


Dalliance for Lonely Hearts

by caleyedoscope



Series: Faerlamore [6]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, Original Work
Genre: F/M, Hyunwoo/Yejun is the main pairing, M/M, and it's sad, some one sided seungho/hyunwoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 19:04:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11538540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caleyedoscope/pseuds/caleyedoscope
Summary: Hyunwoo deals with his one-sided love of Seungho and finds himself confused by feelings he has for Yejun. Yejun rescues an abused, damaged young boy from slave traders. He and Hyunwoo try to find a way to keep him safe. Unknowingly they begin to uncover a plot that threatens the royal family itself.This is 90% Yejun/Hyunwoo/Seungho, who are, incase you forgot, DBSK children from Faerlamore. Fair warning. :) DBSK are in this, just as side characters. They're still super sexy though, as per usual in Faerlamore.





	1. Chapter 1

Yejun trains every single day. He runs and lifts, he learns the art of swordplay from his mother’s servant and is a better shot with a bow and arrow than anyone in the kingdom. He can protect himself and his family without breaking a sweat and yet—and yet at the moment it’s not enough.  
  
For the first time in his life, Jung Yejun is absolutely petrified. Nothing had gone the way he’d hoped, from the second he’d rolled out of his bed this morning to right now, as he hides in the market with a terrified waif of a boy clinging to him: Jung Yunho’s son hiding in his marketplace. It’s embarrassing and absolutely terrible but Yejun doesn’t have much of a choice.  
  
The marketplace is crawling with the merchants he had been meeting, looking for him and the boy (Yejun is now hesitant to use that name to describe them, pirates is much more likely). Yejun hadn’t been meaning to screw it all up but he’s never been one to stand by and watch as people are mistreated. The boy was dirty and scruffy, clearly beaten on a regular basis and just looking at him makes Yejun’s heart ache. The boy won’t talk, can barely walk, and they’d only gotten this far because Yejun had swung him up onto his back and run.  
  
But that proved to be more taxing than he had thought and now they’re in a stable, hiding behind haystacks and horses as a ruckus is raised outside.  
  
Yejun’s father might actually kill him. Hopefully Yejun can give him a good explanation before that happens.  
  
The boy is shivering, maybe from the cold, maybe out of fear, and while Yejun’s not sure he can do much for the boy’s feelings at the moment, he can certainly give the boy a cloak. He’s only wearing a loincloth, after all. The shivering doesn’t subside completely when he has the boy wrapped snugly, the fabric belted so it doesn’t fall off, but it does seem to calm him down a little bit.  
  
“What a disaster,” Yejun sighs.  
  
After waiting for what seems hours, Yejun carefully lifts the boy. It’s still noisy outside but considerably less so than earlier. He has to get to the mansion and stand his ground. He has to explain himself. He has to tell his father why he’d passed up millions of gold pieces for a boy. He isn’t looking forward to it.  
  
They _are_ in a stable he realizes. He is Jung Yunho’s son—he’ll borrow a horse. It’s the only way to get there fast and possibly outrun any of the “merchants” still combing the streets. The boy whines when Yejun puts him back down on the ground and keeps his arms solidly around his waist as Yejun finds a saddle and secures it on one of the horses. It seems the least skittish out of the lot and he lifts the boy onto it, swings up behind him and grabbing the reigns. “Hold on tight,” he instructs.  
  
Yejun’s never done anything this exciting. It’s like in the stories he reads, the protagonist bursting out of doors and galloping up the narrow street as everyone dives out of the way. Yejun’s never ridden so fast in his entire life. He thinks he sees a few of the fake merchants pointing at him, hears them shout loud and obnoxious. But Yejun just rides, hard and fast towards his mansion, clutching the boy close to his chest.  
  
They arrive amid chaos. The merchants must have gotten to his father already. That will complicate matters—but not make them impossible to fix. He’s positive his father will back him up, once Yejun is able to explain things. He just has to get to that point first.  
  
Siwon, his mother’s servant, sees him first. “Yejun! Your mother—“  
  
“I’ll be in my rooms. I need hot water, food, and bandages.”  
  
“Yejun, you really—“  
  
“Now,” Yejun says, “right now, Siwon.”  
  
“I’ll send someone,” Siwon acquiesces, with a slight bow. He’s most likely also going to inform Yejun’s mother and father, and probably Jaejoong that he’s finally back. Oh well. Better for them to see the boy before Yejun cleans him.  
  
Yerin is in his room, his twin sister glaring at him with their mother’s eyes, her arms crossed and clearly very angry. But she sees the boy before she can even open her mouth to yell at him and in a second it all melts away. “They lied.”  
  
“I’m not sure what they said, but yes. They probably did.”  
  
“What’s his name?”  
  
“I don’t know. He can’t talk, he can barely stand.”  
  
Maybe it’s because they look alike, but the boy doesn’t seem to mind when Yerin draws close. He looks between Yerin and Yejun, clearly noticing their similarities, before coming to a conclusion of some sort. At least that’s what Yejun thinks is happening. He’s not entirely sure.  
  
“Hello,” Yerin says.  
  
The boy looks at Yejun. “This is my sister. She won’t hurt you.”  
  
He has a very limited amount of time to convince the boy that Yerin’s safe. His father is probably only minutes away from bursting into the room and he doesn’t want the boy to be frightened. Well, more than he already is. Being frightened of Jung Yunho, initially anyway, is basically a given.  
  
But when Yejun is finally able to coax the boy out of the cloak and into other clothing while they wait for a bath, it’s not his father that bangs the door wide open but his Faerlamore.  
  
Jaejoong looks absolutely furious. His mouth is set, one hand on his hip, and his eyes are near on fire as he glares at Yejun. That Jaejoong has to look up at Yejun slightly does nothing to lessen his intensity and Yejun takes an involuntary step backwards.  
  
He is in more trouble than he had anticipated. _A lot_ more.  
  
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”  
  
Yejun knows better than to respond, knows that talking back or pointing out the boy to Jaejoong will not help him. Treating Jaejoong as anything less than a third parent never ends well. He learned that lesson the hard way and he’d learned it well.  
  
“Months. Months of negotiations, Yejun, and this is how you approach it? By swinging around a sword? _Threatening_ our allies?”  
  
Yejun had not had a sword with him. He did have a dagger, but it had remained sheathed and he’d used one of the merchant’s knives to cut the boy free of his ropes. Clearly they had exaggerated. No matter.  
  
“I have an explanation.”  
  
“I’m sure you do,” Jaejoong says, “but that does not excuse the fact that you just lost us—lost the _crown_ —millions of gold pieces.”  
  
That makes Yejun wince, even if he already knew it. It’s not as if the crown is poor, or that they desperately needed it, but a million pieces is not an amount to so easily dismiss. Predictably, Jaejoong catches his reaction.  
  
“At least you realize that. Your father is waiting for you in his study. I _just barely_ managed to convince him that he needed some time to cool down. Thank me.”  
  
“Thank you,” Yejun replies immediately. If his father is that angry, this might not be as easy to fix as he had thought.  
  
“An apology would be a good idea.”  
  
Ah. An apology.  
  
Yejun looks at Jaejoong, briefly, and then to where the boy is watching him curiously, held tight in Yerin’s arms. Jaejoong can’t see them, due the curved nature of Yejun’s chambers, but even now he can sense Jaejoong following his gaze, foot sliding forward to peer around the corner.  
  
“I’m not sorry,” Yejun says. “I will not apologize for my behavior. But I will go speak with father.”  
  
He tries to leave, he really does, but he only takes two steps before the boy slams into him, every part of his body shaking, his grip surprisingly tight for someone so tiny. For the first time that day, he speaks. Screams.  
  
“ _No_!”  
  
The angry aura surrounding the Faerlamore is gone, shock momentarily taking over his face before it’s slowly replaced with confusion.  
  
Yejun kneels, ignoring Jaejoong and facing the boy instead. “I’ll be back. I promise. You just have to stay with Yerin. She’s going to help you bathe and give you even cleaner clothing, proper clothing that will actually fit you and—“  
  
“ _No_!”  
  
It’s even louder than the first one. Yejun’s ears ring with it.  
  
“Don’t you want to eat? I’ll be right back, I’m not leaving for good.”  
  
“No. No, no, no, no, no.” The boys starts to cry, winding his arms around Yejun’s neck and smashing his face into his shoulder. The force knocks him sideways and they land in a heap on the floor. Yejun couldn’t have pushed him away even if he had wanted.  
  
Jaejoong still looks angry when Yejun glances up at him, but he’s calmed. “I’ll tell Yunho to come here. This story had better be good. Yerin, follow me out.”  
  
He leaves with a final finger to Yejun’s face in warning, and Yerin shoots her brother an apologetic smile as she follows. And then they’re alone.  
  
“No,” the boy says.  
  
“I’m not. I’m not going to leave. Can we sit up? My ribs are crushed.”  
  
It takes a precious few minutes before they’re able to do so, and another few before the boy sits by himself on a chair. The bath is going to have to wait.  
  
Yejun hears his father’s footsteps echoing in the hall, set against the pounding in his heart and he hopes the boy doesn’t have another panic attack. Yejun hopes _he_ doesn’t have a panic attack. It’s been awhile since his father has been so angry. It’s been even longer since that anger has been directed at him.  
  
His father walks inside with his jaw set and his eyes narrowed. He’s positively frightening like this and Yejun swallows, feels the boy automatically shift behind him, peek out around Yejun’s arm. So much for sitting on a chair by himself.  
  
They stare at one another, father and son, before Yejun lowers his eyes.  
  
Yunho erupts.  
  
“What were you _thinking_?”  
  
The boy squeaks and Yunho’s eyes go to him instantly. “Jaejoong said you had a—boy.” The tone of voice says he hadn’t been expecting this. He had probably been expecting something more along the lines of Yejun’s reputation for liking pretty men.  
  
Still, he stays quiet. But he squeezes the boy’s hand and hopes it’s reassuring.  
  
“Millions of gold pieces,” he father continues, “that you know the king and I have been working very hard to secure in exchange for our silk. Months of work and I _trusted_ you to take care of the initial greetings. I sent you because I thought you would be able to do a good job. Regardless of whatever this is,” he waves at the boy, hand stiff with controlled rage, “I would have expected you to handle it better.”  
  
Yejun does have his reasons. He does, but he’s not stupid enough to interrupt.  
  
“I was about to have tea with Jaejoong when the merchants came banging on the door.”  
  
No one in the mansion is stupid enough to believe that Yunho and Jaejoong’s “tea times” are actually that. Yejun had believed it when he was younger, but as soon as his mother had explained some of the more adult desires to him (and as soon as he started having some of his own,) it had become obvious that Yunho and Jaejoong’s actual activities during that time were anything but tea drinking.  
  
“The merchant was screaming, yelling about how you had threatened them, slashed up their merchandise. I didn’t initially want to believe him but when you didn’t show up I was forced to apologize.” Yunho pauses for a second, takes a deep breath. “I hope you have a very good explanation.”  
  
Yejun hopes his father finds it good as well. “I didn’t bring a sword. I didn’t even use my dagger. I wasn’t expecting to have to use one.”  
  
“I don’t care whose sword you used,” Yunho says.  
  
“I didn’t use one at all,” Yejun corrects. “I _borrowed_ a knife to cut him—this boy—free of ropes.”  
  
Yunho frowns. Yejun waits.  
  
“Sit down,” Yunho says, “start from the beginning.”  
  
Yejun almost collapses with relief. It’s a little difficult to move with the boy still clinging tightly to him, but he manages to make it to one of the couches. The boys curls up on his knees, gripping Yejun’s arm tight and staring at Yunho with intense apprehension. His father sits across from them, and he looks less upset, but Yejun knows better than to relax completely. Jung Yunho is a tiger, whether he appears to be or not.  
  
“It started out fine,” he admits, “they were accommodating and really respectful. They started to give me a tour, showed the goods they had on board and the gold.”  
  
His father blows out an irritated breath.  
  
“Then they asked if I wanted to see their ‘other goods’ and I didn’t really know what they meant. But I said yes because I figured it would be best to know everything that they were selling. I wasn’t expecting it to be—they meant people. The whole bottom of the ship was full of slaves. I didn’t—I didn’t know what to do. Most of them seemed fine, they weren’t mistreated or malnourished but this one—this boy was tied to a post and just—“ Yejun hadn’t meant to start crying. Tears do not earn compassion, his father always says, they do not get you out of trouble, genuine or otherwise. He takes a deep breath, staring down at where his hand is clasped with the boy’s, dirty and frail, knuckles sticking out under translucent skin. “I was so angry. I’ve never been so angry in my whole entire life. They thought I—because I walked up to him and touched his hand they thought I was _interested_. They tore off his clothes and pushed him onto the ground and said I could—I could— _try_ him before I bought him. In front of everyone. Like. Like he was—“  
  
His father’s hand brushes his knee, permission to stop, and Yejun does. He’s hyperventilating just remembering it. Remembering the fear in the boy’s eyes, remembering the laughter of the merchants, the whimpers of the other slaves. The boy had gone incredibly still beside him, his fingers white where they dig into Yejun’s forearm and Yejun thinks his father only stopped him because of that.  
  
“You should have waited,” Yunho says. “I’m not saying your course of action was wrong. I understand why you saved him and I can’t say I would have done it differently had I been your age. But you should have said no, gotten off the ship, and come straight to me.”  
  
Yejun bows his head. He _should_ have. He should have done it the proper way and let his father or the king deal with this instead of taking matters into his own hands. Even going to Seungho for help would have been smarter. Despite what he had said earlier to Jaejoong, Yejun finds the words forming on his lips before he can stop them. “I’m sorry.”  
  
“I forgive you,” Yunho says, immediately. “I’m still so angry and I think your mother might actually want to take a cane to you but—I forgive you. All is not lost now that I know your side of the story. Why did you wait so long to come home? It’s been hours since the merchants came to see me.”  
  
“I—carried him. My horse was gone when I got out and so I ran and they chased and the boy was panicking. So we hid in a stable. I didn’t mean to stay away but I wanted him to feel safe.”  
  
His father eyes the boy who’s still plastered to Yejun’s side. “Yes, well, I think you accomplished that just fine.” He sighs. “I was going to have you apologize to the king but I don’t think that’s necessary anymore. The situation can be salvaged, especially if they’re dealing with slaves. That was not on their paperwork.”  
  
It’s not like the king has completely banished the slave trade—he can’t—but he’s really cracked down on the practice and the conditions of slave trading. The merchants definitely did not meet any of those standards, Yejun is sure of it.  
  
“I-I might apologize anyway. At least…I’ll talk to Seungho.”  
  
Yunho looks at the boy again, eyes trained to where he’s gripping Yejun tight. “If you can get up to the palace at all.”  
  
  
—  
  
  
Jaejoong tries to help. Everyone tries to help, even Siwon, even his father’s other slaves. But the boy refuses to be near anyone that isn’t Yejun or Yerin. Even though they look a lot like their father, the boy won’t go anywhere near him unless he can hide behind Yejun’s shoulder. Jaejoong is clearly irritated (“Because everyone loves me,” Yejun overhears him telling Yunho, “how is it possible that he doesn’t like me? I want to be offended but I can’t.”) and while it’s fine for the time being, it’s eventually going to be troublesome.  
  
“Let’s start with a name,” Yejun says, “maybe a name will help. Do you have one?”  
  
“No,” the boy sighs. No is the one of the few words he’s spoken. He says _Yejun_ , though not _Yerin_ , says _water_ , _yes_ , _bad_ , _pretty_ , and tries to repeat words that Yejun says, here and there, but not much more than that.  
  
Cleaned up, the boy looks slightly less malnourished. Just one day of decent food has done him good and he’s wrapped himself in clothing, curling up into warm patches of sunlight like a cat, the corners of his mouth turning up whenever Yejun reaches out to touch him or speak to him. He preens under Yejun’s attention, not afraid to plop his head in Yejun’s lap, or wrap his skinny arms around Yejun’s neck. And all he seems to want to do is nap. Yejun’s study has one large window that lets in sunlight and Yejun will fall asleep in one strip of light in the morning, wake a few hours later to find the warmth has moved across the room and roll across the floor, or crawl, until he’s comfortably situated in it again.  
  
“You are like a kitten,” Yejun sighs, when his work is interrupted for a third time that morning.  
  
The boy cocks his head. “Kit-ten,” he echoes, carefully. He smiles.  
  
“Do you like that? I can’t believe you like it. Should I call you Kitten?”  
  
“Kitten!”  
  
Yejun heaves a sigh. “Kitten it is. That’s really weird. What if I called you Kit?”  
  
“Kitten.” This time there’s a frown.  
  
“Kitten,” Yejun agrees, “okay.”  
  
Jaejoong laughs when he finds out. “It’s your own fault. He is exactly like a cat, though. I like it,” he says, right to Kitten, and gets a smile in return. “Have you decided what to do with him?”  
  
“Not yet.”  
  
“I’m—not sure he’ll make a good Faerlamore.”  
  
Definitely not, Yejun thinks. But what else can he do? As a servant, Kitten would need to have duties, chores. A Faerlamore title would be ideal but he’d be the laughing stock of the entire court. No Faerlamore can only speak a few words at a time, no Faerlamore is unable to leave his master’s side. And the last thing Yejun wants to do is kiss him, despite how much he enjoys kissing. Kitten’s only a _boy_. Fourteen, fifteen, at most. Maybe younger? It’s hard to tell, malnourished as he is.  
  
“What would you do?” Yejun asks Jaejoong.  
  
“I don’t know. But you need to think of something. Your father may have the merchants cornered because of this, but since they are foreign he can’t actually arrest them. They won’t be welcome here again but it doesn’t mean they won’t try something before they leave. You need a solid way to _protect_ him.”  
  
“Pro-tect,” Kitten says.  
  
Jaejoong coos at him, clearly pleased he’d finally gotten a little attention.  
  
“I don’t know how.”  
  
“Is he worth protecting, Yejun?”  
  
“Yes!”  
  
“Then you’ll think of something.”  
  
Problem-solving, his father always tells him, is what this family does. There is always a solution. But Yejun’s invested in this, he’s busy with work from his father, busy trying to get Kitten settled, busy trying to work with Seungho on joint merchant-related issues. And Yerin is busy with Seungho planning their wedding. Everyone has so much to do.  
  
“I think I might go and see Hyunwoo,” he says.  
  
Jaejoong smiles. “That’s a good idea.”  
  
  
  
  
—  
  
  
  
The court is in a tizzy.  
  
Hyunwoo doesn’t usually pay attention to the whispers and rumors but he’s heard Yejun’s name enough to think he ought to be concerned. Still, it’s only been a day, and he knows if Yejun needs him, he’ll ask.  
  
Hyunwoo already has enough on his plate.  
  
Technically, as the Prince’s Faerlamore, he is in charge of all the other Faerlamore’s in the castle (in the country.) It’s something he’d been discussing with Junsu, and after ironing out the details, the king had written up a new law. As it was, Hyunwoo ranks above most everyone in the court, but now, he is to look after the well being of other Faerlamores, make sure that they are treated fairly, address any problems, reward them for any great deeds. It should have been Junsu, but he really doesn’t have time for it, so the council had decided it was a good duty for the Crown Prince’s Faerlamore to have.  
  
Hyunwoo doesn’t mind. Helping other Faerlamores and getting to know them have enabled him to take his mind off Seungho and his father’s new lady charge. He’d even started toying with the idea of having a Faerlamore council, because the duties are piling up and there are far too many Faerlamores and problems for him to track at all times.  
  
Besides that, Hyunwoo still hasn’t been able to talk to his father about the lady he’s taken under his care. All he knows is that her name is Victoria and his father had pulled her from the pond after she’d misstepped and fallen into it. He thinks that’s not quite true, because the lady does not at all look pleased at being saved; Hyunwoo knows all too well what defeat looks like in a person, knows what someone who has given up on life looks like because he’s seen it far too often on his father. But he won’t say anything to Seungho, who thinks it was so brave and valiant of Changmin to jump in after her. His father has a fire in his eyes again and that is what matters to Hyunwoo.  
  
That and Seungho’s happiness. Hyunwoo would rather focus on that.  
  
So he’s feeling relatively well when he slips into his study, filling quickly with books and ledgers. He nearly trips on his own feet, though, when he sees Yejun waiting for him.  
  
“Sorry,” Yejun says, “I was looking for you and I had no idea where to start so I just thought I’d wait.”  
  
Hyunwoo doesn’t bother bowing; Yejun’s too close a friend for that and no one will ever know. “Do you need something?”  
  
“Just to talk. Come to my room?”  
  
Work can wait. Yejun always treats him so well, doesn’t mind snuggling or fucking or kissing, and he’s the closest thing Hyunwoo has to a best friend. He doesn’t know what he’d do without Yejun.  
  
Hyunwoo takes Yejun’s hand and follows, brimming with happiness as the lord leads him down the hallways and into the chambers he keeps in the castle, thanks to Seungho. Cuddling on his bed comes easy as they slip under the covers and Hyunwoo sighs contentedly as Yejun strokes back his hair. “‘Spoiling me,” Hyunwoo murmurs.  
  
“A little,” Yejun admits. “I have something to tell you, though.”  
  
“Mm?”  
  
“I don’t—I don’t know if it’s going to upset you.”  
  
Hyunwoo feels his mood drop a bit and he twists his head to look Yejun in the eye.  
  
“I’m getting—I might be getting a Faerlamore. I think. He wouldn’t make a good Faerlamore but—I have to take care of him and I don’t know how else to do that.”  
  
For a second, Hyunwoo freezes—  
  
“I found him—he was—not treated well. I mean.”  
  
—but then Hyunwoo relaxes as he remembers he’s not Yejun’s Faerlamore. They’re just friends. This is okay (even if it means he won’t be able to have Yejun like this anymore.) “Tell me,” Hyunwoo urges, and swallows down his disappointment.  
  
The is story is a little ironic, and if Yejun were not so desperate Hyunwoo would have laughed. But he’s pretty sure that will get him in lots of trouble so instead he holds onto Yejun tight and listens. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t—Hyunwoo, _I don’t know what to do._ He’s frightened to death of everyone except me and Yerin. How do I make it better?”  
  
“You want to make him your Faerlamore?”  
  
“I don’t know. He can barely put two words together and he still has trouble standing on his own. I want to—I want to protect him. I don’t know how to do that.”  
  
“Did you talk to Jaejoong?”  
  
“He’s busy keeping father calm, helping him deal with the merchants.”  
  
“And your mother?”  
  
“She said I need to be responsible for the people I save.”  
  
Harsh, but Hyunwoo understands to a certain degree. Yejun has lot resting on his shoulders. They all do.  
  
“Do you think I can keep him safe?”  
  
Hyunwoo feels the tears coming and it’s only by consistent practice and experience that he can keep them from falling. “You kept me safe,” he says, “I know you can do it for this other boy as well. Besides, you came up here to ask for help, did you not? I’m pretty fabulous at keeping slaves safe.”  
  
“I don’t even know what he is, though.”  
  
“That’s fine. Maybe we’ll make something up. We do know a prince.”  
  
“We do,” Yejun says.  
  
“What’s the boy’s name?”  
  
There’s a pause, which could mean anything, before Yejun tentatively admits, “Kitten.”  
  
Hyunwoo blinks. “What?”  
  
“I know. He didn’t have a name, though.”  
  
“So you’re going to call him _Kitten_?” It’s horrendous. Hyunwoo wants to change it immediately. He can’t even believe no one has insisted on it—he can’t believe _Jaejoong_ isn’t insisting on it.  
  
“He likes it! He acts like a literal cat and I said it out loud and he smiled. He smiles when I call him Kitten.”  
  
Hyunwoo pushes Yejun’s face away from his chest in time to see the blush before it fades. “Oh, you think he’s cute.”  
  
“No! I mean, yes. But he’s a _child_. Who knows what he’s been through until now? I’m not going do anything to him, why does everyone think that?”  
  
“Because that’s what you normally do with pretty men?”  
  
Hyunwoo accepts the punch to his arm. “He’s a _boy_ ,” Yejun hisses.  
  
“Fine, yes. He’s a boy and you aren’t going to sleep with him. I’m sorry for misunderstanding.”  
  
Yejun huffs. But he seems placated, especially when Hyunwoo leans forward to brush their mouths together in a second, much more meaningful apology. “So long as you still kiss me.”  
  
The color in Yejun’s cheeks is back and Hyunwoo grins, leaning in again and again until he’s sure Yejun isn’t upset, until the blush turns into a flush. Hyunwoo may have to hold himself back with Seungho but he doesn’t have to with Yejun, when they’re like this. He tucks a but of Yejun’s hair behind his ear.  
  
“When do I get to meet him?”  
  
“Tonight if you want.”  
  
“If Seungho will allow it.”  
  
“Seungho always allows it. Meet you at the stables.”  
  
The crown prince is reading in bed when Hyunwoo finds him. He’d had a long day, longer than Hyunwoo’s, even. “Did you hear?” Seungho asks him, as Hyunwoo sits down beside him, pushing the books and scrolls away to make room. Most are for the wedding, ceremony details, things Seungho must memorize, and Hyunwoo tries hard not to notice. He gets too close (as he usually does,) presses far enough into Seungho’s space so he can smell him, feel his body heat. Seungho doesn’t move away; he never moves away.  
  
“About Yejun? He came to tell me. I’m going to go down and meet the boy.”  
  
“Now?” Seungho actually looks a little skeptical, but it’s gone a second later. He denies Hyunwoo his love and therefore cannot deny him anything else; Hyunwoo has no shame in taking full advantage of that. “Fine. Will you be back tomorrow?”  
  
“I think so. If the boy hates me, though, I’ll be back tonight. Sad and dejected.”  
  
“Don’t worry, he’ll love you. Everyone loves you.”  
  
Hyunwoo leaves without saying anything because if he opens his mouth, only stupid things will come out.  
  
  
—  
  
  
Kitten is not at all what Hyunwoo had expected. He’s ecstatic to see Yejun, his tiny little body wrapping around Yejun’s and Hyunwoo immediately feels awful for making the jokes he had. He’ll make it up to Yejun later, but now—now he needs to impress the boy. But how? He doesn’t want to be intimidating.  
  
He sits on the floor while Yejun is patting Kitten on the head, trying to dislodge his arms and legs so he can stand properly. But even simply standing seems to be a little difficult. Kitten had been hurt, badly, and Hyunwoo thinks he now understands Yejun’s actions.  
  
Kitten can hide behind Yejun entirely without being seen. Even as he looks at Hyunwoo curiously from behind Yejun’s back, his head is all Yejun can see. Kitten definitely needs to eat a lot of food, get a lot of exercise. Kitten needs caring.  
  
“Hello, Kitten,” Hyunwoo says. He keeps his voice quiet, keeps his smile gentle, doesn’t move to touch anything, not even Yejun.  
  
Surprisingly enough, he gets a smile.  
  
“Kitten is a lovely name. It suits you.”  
  
Kitten’s eyes curve a little more, his hands slide down Yejun’s arms to grab at his fingers.  
  
“You have such pretty eyes, Kitten. Has anyone ever told you that?”  
  
Hyunwoo thinks he’s onto something; Kitten like praise.  
  
Later, he won’t be able to recall his words. Anything wonderful about Kitten that Hyunwoo can think of falls from his lips: Kitten’s hair, Kitten’s skin, Kitten’s clothes. Hyunwoo can easily imagine why this works. Kitten’s captors had told him he was worthless, had told him he wasn’t pretty enough, had told him he was bad.  
  
By the time Hyunwoo’s run out of things to say, Kitten’s sitting in front of him, hands petting Hyunwoo on his cheeks, playing with his hair. Another minute and Kitten’s in his lap, smiling.  
  
“Jaejoong’s going to be so jealous,” Yejun says smugly.  
  
“I’m not so sure we should be happy about that.”  
  
  
—  
  
  
Hyunwoo stays the night.  
  
Kitten falls asleep curled into Yejun but keeps a firm grasp on Hyunwoo’s arm so that it hugs him tight. It’s the first time Hyunwoo’s fallen asleep in Yejun’s bed without them first having sex and it’s a little strange. He’d come to associate the smell of lavender on Yejun’s sheets and the feel of them against his skin to kissing Yejun breathless, listening to his little gasps of pleasure as Hyunwoo wrecks him. Honestly, Yejun is gorgeous. He does look a lot like his father, but he’s a tad more delicate, certainly more so than Seungho. Even though all Hyunwoo has with Seungho is the occasional kiss, the Crown Prince is always in control, always leading. But with Yejun, Hyunwoo takes the reigns, Hyunwoo calls the shots. One more thing to really like about their time together. One more thing to really like about _Yejun_.  
  
Yejun must be thinking something along the same lines because he reaches out to thread his fingers in Hyunwoo’s hair, tugs on it like he would if he was underneath Hyunwoo, skin on skin. It sets Hyunwoo’s stomach curling and he pouts. “That’s not fair. I can’t kiss you with Kitten here.”  
  
“So then take me somewhere else.”  
  
Hyunwoo has never been one to back down from a challenge, but Kitten doesn’t make it easy. He really would like to kiss Yejun but—now is not a good time. “Later,” Hyunwoo promises. They both need to sleep. Hyunwoo has a strange feeling they won’t be getting much of it in the days to come.  
  
  
—  
  
  
Hyunwoo leaves before Yejun is awake. Kitten watches him, though, as he splashes his face with water, combs his hair, borrows some of Yejun’s clothing. He kisses Yejun’s cheek before he leaves, feeling a little weird because Kitten’s watching, and whispers, “take care of him for me? I think you’re so good at caring for him, aren’t you, Kitten?”  
  
The boy nods, wraps his arms around Yejun tighter, and Hyunwoo ruffles his hair. “Go back to sleep.”  
  
It’s still very early, the staff just waking up and Hyunwoo swings by the kitchens to grab an apple for his ride back to the castle. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jaejoong is there. He looks exhausted, though his hands are steady as he prepares a tray of food. “Oh you stayed the night?”  
  
“I did.”  
  
“I wish I had known, I could have come visited you.”  
  
Hyunwoo looks at the bags under Jaejoong’s eyes, then back down to the food and tea on the tray. Yunho had worked through the night, it seemed. “Next time,” he says, and then, “Can I have some food?”  
  
“Take what you want. I need to get back upstairs.”  
  
Jaejoong pats Hyunwoo’s shoulder affectionately as he passes and by the time Hyunwoo’s grabbed an apple, the other Faerlamore is gone.  
  
Hyunwoo borrows a horse, too, and gets back to the castle with a clear mind. He peeks in on Seungho, finding his Prince fast asleep and snoring, and after tucking the blankets around him more carefully, Hyunwoo makes his way to his study.  
  
He still has a lot of work left to do for the Faerlamore council but he’s unable to shake the urgency he felt in Yejun’s voice last night, the pain of not knowing how to help Kitten. Something has to be done.  
  
He begins by reading through the volumes of Faerlamore regulation. He’s done it before now, but with other things on his mind. Kitten would never pass the Faerlamore tests. There are ways of getting around that—Jaejoong hadn’t taken it, for example—but none of those reasons would qualify Kitten. He still can only speak one language, he cannot take care of himself at the moment, let alone a Lord, and he certainly cannot sexually gratify Yejun. Of course, Seungho and Hyunwoo get around that pretty well but Seungho is a Prince and his father doesn’t much care if they adhere to that or not.  
  
Kitten has many, many difficult years of training ahead if he wants to be a Faerlamore. While he could certainly enter a program for that it wouldn’t protect him from the merchants: any slave without a master can be bought and any slave in the Faerlamore program is automatically without a master (the exception being any slave belonging to the crown).  
  
Around lunch time Seungho comes to see him. Hyunwoo lies when he says he’s eaten, even though Seungho can probably tell he hasn’t had lunch, but the Prince doesn’t comment. Instead he settles next to Hyunwoo on the cushion, sets his chin on his shoulder and makes Hyunwoo’s stomach flutter from the attention. “When did you get back?”  
  
“Early this morning. You were still sleeping.”  
  
“As long as you slept some. Any progress?”  
  
“No,” Hyunwoo sighs, “I can’t find any loopholes. Want to make me a new law?”  
  
“I will if you want.”  
  
It’s probably exactly what they’ll have to do. The only problem is that such things take time, even if Seungho is the Prince. The wording alone will take some very careful attention. Hyunwoo sighs.  
  
“Don’t be sad. I have faith in you.”  
  
“Faith doesn’t always get things done.”  
  
He finally pushes the books away, hugging his knees to him, trying not to think too hard about the warmth of Seungho’s body against his and how this entire situation is so rare. Maybe it’s that, maybe it’s the image of Kitten stuck in his head, but he feels the tears coming and he has a really difficult time stopping them. Usually Seungho just lets him cry, holds him tight and doesn’t say anything. But not today. Hyunwoo doesn’t know what’s different about today but Seungho cups his cheeks, looks so unhappy about Hyunwoo being in pain, and kisses him.  
  
Their kisses are never long, never sexual. Seungho is always gentle and chaste, pressing their mouths together only once. But Hyunwoo loves them. Hyunwoo craves them, can never get enough of them. Hyunwoo wishes he could ask for them, wishes he could have them all the time, whenever he wants.  
  
Most days he can handle it, after Seungho leaves. He always kisses and then leaves, kisses and then falls asleep, and it’s rare that Hyunwoo cannot contain his heartache.  
  
But today is one of those days. He stares at the piles of books and scrolls and papers and doesn’t realize he’s crying until he can’t breathe through his nose. He’s blindly reaching for a handkerchief when someone puts it in his hand. Perhaps he should have expected it, but Junsu’s the one kneeling next to him.  
  
“I—“ Hyunwoo starts, but finds he can’t finish. He can’t say it out loud.  
  
Junsu sighs. “Hyunwoo-yah. He’s getting married. You need to let him go.”  
  
  
—  
  
  
Yoochun watches his son, watches him fiddle with his fingers and bite his lip. He knows, Yoochun decides, his son understands. He just doesn’t want to do anything about it.  
  
Yoochun sighs. “Stop kissing him, Seungho. You have to stop.”  
  
  
—  
  
  
Hyunwoo stays up all night and all the next day. He locks his door and doesn’t let anyone open it.  
  
Hyunwoo _thinks_.  
  
He doesn’t blame his father for this situation. Hyunwoo is a Faerlamore because of his father’s mistakes but really it’s the best outcome. It had been the only avenue available to them at the time and it’s given Hyunwoo a life he really, truly treasures, despite the fact that he cannot have the man he loves.  
  
And he’s not the only one.  
  
Because of his work with the Faerlamore council he knows the stories and situations of a lot of Faerlamores. Some of them like what they do, some of them do not. A lot of them had been abused and forced into the life, some had been abused and taken on the life in order to protect themselves. Some were like Jaejoong, treated well and rewarded with the best kind of master. There aren’t a lot of options and the more Hyunwoo mulls it over in his head the more he thinks the solution really is to make a new law, make a new social status for those that need protection and cannot fend for themselves.  
  
But _what_?  
  
He starts with names, starts writing down things about Kitten and other people that had been hurt, drawing parallels between them. He makes lists of things Faerlamores do that Kitten cannot and things servants do that Kitten cannot. Hyunwoo finally has a basic outline for something that might work when he hears a the door unlock. It has to be Seungho because he’s the only one with a key and Hyunwoo looks up with a frown. He doesn’t want to be disturbed. He almost has an answer!  
  
“You need to rest,” Seungho says.  
  
“I’m fine.”  
  
“Hyunwoo, there are four trays of food outside of this door untouched. By the bags under your eyes I would guess that you haven’t slept at all. I will not watch you collapse _again_.”  
  
Behind him, a slave peeks her head around the door and then carries in a plate of food which she carefully lays on the table before bowing her way out.  
  
“Eat,” Seungho orders.  
  
Hyunwoo obeys. Seungho sits beside him watches Hyunwoo swallow every last bite before he’s satisfied. “Now sleep.”  
  
“Seungho—“  
  
“Sleep, Hyunwoo. You need to rest.”  
  
Seungho has to help. Hyunwoo’s vision swims as he stands and he leans heavily on his prince, decides to take what comfort he can in the attention. He doesn’t have a bed in his study but Seungho rolls out blankets by the fire and Hyunwoo slides under them easily.  
  
He doesn’t expect Seungho to follow him and so is immensely pleased when he does. “I wish you’d take care of yourself.”  
  
“I’m fine. It’s Kitten we have to worry about.”  
  
“Kitten is fine, too. Yejun—Yejun’s good at caring for people.”  
  
Yejun’s the best at caring. Almost better than Junsu. Almost better than _Jaejoong_ , and that’s saying a lot.  
  
“Promise me you’ll eat and sleep. Promise, Hyunwoo.”  
  
“I promise,” Hyunwoo murmurs, because he must. He can never do anything that will make his Prince unhappy. “Sorry.”  
  
“Just sleep.”  
  
Hyunwoo does, with his head on Seungho’s shoulder and their legs tangled together, a little warm but nice just the same.  
  
It’s always wonderful to fall sleep in Seungho’s arms. Always _easiest_.


	2. Chapter 2

When Hyunwoo sends a messenger to inform Yejun that he might have a solution, Yejun decides it’s a good time as any to bring Kitten to the Palace. Jaejoong is incredibly skeptical, but Kitten actually looks excited at the prospect of visiting a Prince.  
  
“The Prince is just like Hyunwoo.”  
  
“Hyunwoo,” Kitten repeats. “Kitten likes Hyunwoo.”  
  
“ _I_ like Hyunwoo,” Yejun corrects. He’d starts trying to coax more words out of Kitten the past few days, and while he’d been able to do that, the words aren’t always in the right order or the right form. He would really like Changmin to tutor him. Changmin can teach anyone anything.  
  
“I like Hyunwoo.”  
  
“Good boy.”  
  
Hyunwoo’s observation about Kitten responding really well to praise had been incredibly enlightening. He loves to be told how good he is, how clever or pretty, and Yejun takes every opportunity to do so. Kitten had even opened up to Yejun’s father after Yunho had cupped Kitten’s cheek and told him that he had the loveliest eyes.  
  
Even now, with just those two words, Kitten is smiling bright and reaching for Yejun’s hands to hold. “Let’s get a horse ready. This ride will be a lot smoother than our last, I promise. Besides you did so well last time, I’m sure you’ll do well now.”  
  
“Horse!”  
  
“Horse,” Yejun nods.  
  
He peeks his head into Jaejoong’s study to let the Faerlamore know he’s going to the castle and Jaejoong gives him a distracted wave, his nose buried in paperwork and scrolls.  
  
They take it slow, Yejun pointing out important things in the marketplace that he thinks will interest Yejun, and when they finally make it to palace gates, Kitten is sitting up straight, leaning forward in anticipation, and it makes Yejun’s heart swell.  
  
They find Hyunwoo in his study with Junsu. Both of the Faerlamores are eating but they stop as soon as Yejun pokes his head in the door. Hyunwoo had clearly told Junsu all about Kitten, because the first thing Junsu does is get on his knees so he looks up at Kitten and compliments him.  
  
In the space of five minutes, Kitten has his arms around Junsu’s neck and is landing a kiss on his cheek.  
  
Yejun gapes.  
  
“We’ll leave you two to talk. I’m going to take Kitten to all the secret places in the castle that no one else is allowed to see. And because he’s _so sweet_ , I’m going to take him to see the King. Would you like that Kitten?”  
  
Kitten looks at Yejun and his expression isn’t worried, exactly, but he’s apprehensive. He looks _curious_. “The King is very nice,” Yejun promises, “not as nice as you are, Kitten, but almost.”  
  
“King,” Kitten says, and then smiles. Yejun ruffles his hair.  
  
And then Hyunwoo and Yejun are alone, sitting down at Hyunwoo’s low table still strewn with books on Faerlamores and scrolls about servants.  
  
“I can’t wait to tell Jaejoong that Kitten kissed Junsu. He hasn’t even kissed _me_!”  
  
“Are you jealous?” Hyunwoo asks, “I can kiss you if that will make you feel better.”  
  
“Tell me what you’ve found and maybe you can.”  
  
Hyunwoo signs. “I haven’t _found_ anything as much as I’ve created it—with Seungho’s permission, of course. There weren’t any ways to get around the Faerlamore thing. It won’t work to make him that or anything else we currently have in place. So I made up something new.”  
  
“A new title?”  
  
“Title and social class,” Hyunwoo corrects. “Something sort of like a Faerlamore but not quite. It would give him the same status Faerlamore’s receive but not the same duties. It would be something for people that need to be protected, for whatever reason, and are currently incapable of faring for themselves. It would be appointed via the Faerlamore council—me, specifically.”  
  
Yejun likes it. A lot. A social status that allows for a person to be protected but does not land a large amount of duties on them.  
  
“There would be requirements, though as well as a certain amount of schooling to complete. It wouldn’t be permanent, at least not without trying to help them. For example we would take in abused slaves, give them attention and love, teach them to read and write, maybe cook, at whatever pace they learn best. If they do well then they move on, attend Faerlamore training, become a servant, whatever they like. And if they aren’t getting better, or can’t, then the owner can apply for a permanent status.”  
  
“That makes sense,” Yejun nods, “that will keep people from using the status as an excuse to be lazy.”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
“What will it be called?”  
  
“I don’t know. For awhile I really wanted to call it Kitten.”  
  
“Absolutely not.”  
  
“I know. It would make Kitten sad to hear other people called his own name. I’m aware of that. I have a list. Some represent things, some are just…me putting letters together to see how they sound.”  
  
Yejun takes the paper he’s handed, scanning the words Hyunwoo had been writing. Meo. Unoasi. Erah. Most are gibberish, as Hyunwoo had said, but others.—“Some of these mean Kitten, Shim Hyunwoo.”  
  
“Tell me I’m clever.”  
  
“No.”  
  
Nothing on the list really stands out. “It should be fierce. This new status might be for people that have really been hurt but I think that makes them powerful. It shouldn’t be something gentle.”  
  
“Like a tiger, biding it’s time, waiting to strike.”  
  
“Exactly. But more—learning. A small little tiger learning how to defend itself, not really knowing how it will grow up with a lot of power and strength.”  
  
Maybe little flame, little wolf, little soldier. So many possibilities, so many descriptions but not a word that sounds good. They agonize for a good hour, tossing words and ideas back and forth before Yejun finally gets frustrated.  
  
“Let’s think about it later. I’m hungry.”  
  
“I’ll ring for food. What do you want?”  
  
Yejun frowns. He finally takes a good, long look at Hyunwoo and crosses his arms. “You—you look like complete shit. Have you been sleeping?”  
  
“A little.”  
  
“Hyunwoo—”  
  
“Seungho’s making sure I do. I promise.”  
  
“He shouldn’t have to do that. You should be eating without someone _reminding_ you that it’s necessary.”  
  
Hyunwoo hadn’t said he hadn’t been eating but just looking at him, Yejun can tell. “You’re a silly sort of Faerlamore.”  
  
“You—wait until you have one of your own. It’s not that easy to care for us; we’re pretty demanding.”  
  
“Call for the food, Hyunwoo.”  
  
He didn’t mean for it to happen, but as they wait for food to be brought up to them, Yejun leans over to give Hyunwoo his promised kiss. It gets heated without Yejun meaning it to and when there’s a knock on the door they pull away almost guiltily, running hands through hair and straightening their clothing before opening the door.  
  
“Thank you,” Hyunwoo tells whichever servant brought it up, “we won’t be needing anything else.”  
  
Sometimes, when it’s just the two of them, Hyunwoo likes to pretend he belongs to Yejun instead of Seungho. He sits at Yejun’s feet or lays his head in Yejun’s lap and allows himself to be fed, to be treated properly as a Faerlamore and act like nothing in his heart is wrong.  
  
Though he never calls him master.  
  
They stay like that even after they’re done eating, Yejun’s fingers in Hyunwoo’s hair, both of them quiet in their own thoughts. They don’t speak or move until Junsu comes back with Kitten who is—Yejun’s surprised to see—holding onto Changmin’s hand as he follows them inside.  
  
And behind him is Victoria. Yejun’s only met her once but he’s well aware of her story. Hyunwoo’s told him how he thinks she tried to commit suicide and Yejun is inclined to agree, no matter how much everyone tries to say otherwise. Still, she seems better than the last time Yejun had seen her. She seems more alive.  
  
Changmin is one of the few people in the castle excused from bowing to his son, but he does incline his head to Yejun before settling on the floor with Victoria. Perhaps predictably he reaches out and starts to look over the papers Hyunwoo had laid out around them.  
  
Kitten bounds over to Yejun and if he could speaks normally, Yejun has no doubt the words would be overflowing. “Did you have fun?”  
  
“Fun,” Kitten agrees, wrapping his arms around Yejun’s neck. He stretches out his legs until his toes are in a patch of sunlight on the floor.  
  
“Did you meet the King? Wasn’t he nice?”  
  
“So nice.”  
  
Yejun smiles.  
  
“Is this what you’ve been killing yourself over?” Changmin asks, shuffling the pages. “I heard you didn’t sleep at all last night and Seungho had to force feed you.”  
  
“He didn’t force me,” Hyunwoo scoffs. “I ate then. I just ate now. I will eat later, I promise.”  
  
No one in the room looks particularly convinced, but they let it go. They are apparently used to this and it upsets Yejun a little, that a Faerlamore so lovely is so neglectful of himself. It’s something Yejun resolves to fix, and soon, though he has no idea how. Maybe Jaejoong will have some ideas.  
  
Kitten flops into the laps of most everyone in the room, Hyunwoo a glaring exception, too busy to give Kitten the attention that he wants. Kitten seems to realize this even as he approaches the Faerlamore and he bypasses him, goes straight to Victoria and nuzzles his head under her chin until she puts her arms around him and kisses his cheek.  
  
“You really are a Kitten,” Changmin sighs.  
  
Victoria murmurs something in her own language and then says, “This fia is pretty.”  
  
Yejun blinks.  
  
“What did she say?”  
  
“That he reminds her of her son.”  
  
“No what—she didn’t call him Kitten.”  
  
“Kitten is Kitten,” Kitten frowns. Yejun sighs.  
  
“Fia,” Victoria says.  
  
“Fia is a name for children in her language,” Changmin explains, “it literally translates to ‘little fiery one’.”  
  
Yejun blinks. Fia. “Little fiery one?” He echoes, looking at Hyunwoo. The Faerlamore is already writing it down, grabbing the papers that are scattered everywhere to fill in the title where it needs to be.  
  
“What is it?” Changmin asks.  
  
“We were trying to think of a title for the position and we wanted something exactly like that but we didn’t have a word for it. Fia is perfect.”  
  
Junsu looks at Kitten. “Do you like it?”  
  
“I am _Kitten_ ,” Kitten pouts.  
  
“I am Junsu,” Junsu says, “but I am also a Faerlamore. Yejun is Yejun, but he is also a Lord. You are Kitten, but you will also be a Fia.”  
  
“Fia Kitten?”  
  
“Kitten the very first Fia,” Yejun corrects. “I think it sounds lovely. A lovely title for a lovely person.”  
  
That gets them a smile and Kitten’s acceptance on the matter. He moves off of Victoria and goes back to reclining on the floor, his head in Yejun’s lap and the Lord puts his hand in Kitten’s hair without even thinking about it.  
  
“You lost your son?” Yejun asks Victoria. He hopes it isn’t rude and is relieved when she seems happy to talk about him—through Changmin anyway. Yejun isn’t sure when Changmin had time to learn her language but Hyunwoo’s father has always been incredibly smart so it’s not particularly shocking.  
  
“Your father is looking into it for her,” Changmin says.  
  
“Oh.” That means they suspect foul play. Yejun’s not particularly surprised he hadn’t heard anything from his father about this, but still. “I’m sure he’ll find something.”  
  
“I know he will,” Changmin says, “he’s a hell of an investigator when he wants to be.”  
  
Hyunwoo is lost as he writes and the discussion moves on from there. Yejun tosses the Faerlamore a glance every now and then but he’s ignored. It’s only Seungho that can coax him away from the ledgers, the Prince eventually wandering in to bring them to dinner. “Stay,” Seungho invites Yejun, “You’re sister is coming up as well. We’re eating at the low tables today anyway, so it won’t even be a bother to add a place for you.”  
  
“Kitten too?” Kitten asks, latching onto Seungho’s hand.  
  
“There will always be a place for you here,” Seungho says.  
  
Yejun falls back with Hyunwoo as the rest of them walk ahead, Seungho regaling Kitten with tales of the years he spent overseas. “You can sit beside to me if you don’t want to be next to Seungho. I have a feeling I’m going to have to have someone else to help me with Kitten anyway.”  
  
“You’re so good to me.”  
  
“You deserve it. You deserve everything.”  
  
“I’m not Kitten. You don’t have to heap me with praise.”  
  
“What if I want to praise you?”  
  
Hyunwoo’s smile is sad, something Yejun really doesn’t like to see, and his stomach twists when Hyunwoo answers quietly: “I don’t deserve it.”  
  
  
—  
  
  
Over dinner, Yejun plots.  
  
He’s not a meddler, necessarily, but over the past few days it’s become increasingly clear to him that Seungho isn’t going to do much more to help Hyunwoo—that he can’t, without suddenly becoming attracted to men and everyone in the palace knows that isn’t going to happen. As much as Yejun has a reputation for taking pretty boys to his bed so does Seungho have a reputation for taking pretty girls—until he had officially started to court Yerin, anyway.  
  
The royal family is honestly too busy to do anything and even if they weren’t, the King has made it perfectly clear that no one is to interfere with the prince and his faerlamore. Yejun used to agree, used to think it would help. But now he’s not so sure.  
  
His sister does indeed come up to eat with Seungho, and Hyunwoo does sit with Yejun off to the side of the royal family. They get a few raised eyebrows until the people notice Yerin and then they smile. Yejun feeds Hyunwoo the best pieces of meat, the nicest looking vegetables, even before himself. If Hyunwoo notices he doesn’t say anything, just chews and swallows and helps Kitten when he can’t use his chopsticks quite right.  
  
Hyunwoo is so good. Honestly, Yejun hopes that when he has to get a Faerlamore, he finds someone as lovely as Hyunwoo. Yejun finds himself entranced when Hyunwoo leans over to help Kitten with his food, the light catching across the bridge of his nose. He has his father’s face for the most part, though the mouth isn’t quite the same. Yejun had never met Changmin’s previous lover, but just based on Hyunwoo’s lips alone, Yejun is sure she had been incredibly beautiful.  
  
“You’re staring,” Hyunwoo says.  
  
“You’re gorgeous,” Yejun replies, “I’ll stare all I want.”  
  
“I told you not to flatter me.”  
  
Yejun sighs. Sitting at the low tables means there is little height discrepancy between them, but Yejun is still in charge, weaves his hand into Hyunwoo’s hair to tug his head close and whispers into his ear. “Come back with me tonight.”  
  
“Kitten stays in your room,” Hyunwoo reminds Yejun.  
  
“Kitten will be fine with Jaejoong for a little while. You still owe me a kiss, if I remember correctly.”  
  
“Several. I guess it’s fine if—“  
  
“Seungho will approve. Especially if my sister ends up staying here.”  
  
As soon as it’s out of his mouth, Yejun regrets it. A flicker of disappointment crosses Hyunwoo’s face and then it’s gone a second later, the Faerlamore smiling as he rests his head on Yejun’s shoulder and intertwines their hands.  
  
“Sorry,” Yejun whispers.  
  
“You can make me forget about it, right?”  
  
“I will,” Yejun promises, “no thoughts of Seungho for a whole night, I promise.”  
  
“Then we’re good.”  
  
They spend the rest of the diner like that, Kitten in front of them as he eats everything put on the table, ignoring the curious glances of the lord and ladies present for that evening’s meal. He even turns around to feed Hyunwoo and Yejun, much to their amusement.  
  
Once the king has left the table, the court disperses and Yejun stands as well, gathering Kitten to him, approaching Seungho to talk about that night. But Yerin beats him to it. She’s blushing a little, and it’s adorable. “Don’t tell appa.”  
  
“I’m going to have to tell him, otherwise he’ll send out a search party. Don’t worry, though, we all know what the two of you do when you visit.” Which is not to say that Yejun is okay with it, but he doesn’t want to be a hypocrite.  
  
“Yejun,” his twin hisses.  
  
He ignores her. “I’m taking Hyunwoo for the night,” he calls to Seungho, who waves his approval before going back to his discussion with his mother. “Get what you need and I’ll meet you at the stables.”  
  
“Hyunwoo is coming?” Kitten asks.  
  
“Yes, but the two of us need to…talk.” At least he didn’t say have _have tea_ , Yejun thinks. “You’re going to have to spend the night with Jaejoong, alright?”  
  
Kitten looks incredibly skeptical as they make their way out of the main palace but Yejun decides to leave him be. He doesn’t seem completely against the idea and that’s a huge step in the right direction. He smiles to himself, taking Kitten’s hand and his happy mood remains, even when they’re intercepted by Junsu.  
  
Yejun bows.  
  
“I assume you’re taking Hyunwoo for the night?”  
  
“Yes,” Yejun nods, “Seungho already said I could.”  
  
“I’m not here to stop you. Just try to remember that Hyunwoo belongs to the prince. He _is_ the prince. He cannot ever belong to someone else, not even you.”  
  
Junsu must have caught Yejun staring. He’s not particularly surprised; Junsu notices most everything that has to do with Hyunwoo.  
  
“I know that.”  
  
Junsu looks incredibly skeptical. “He needs to be back in the morning for his duties. I will not excuse him from them any longer; he’s ignored several in favor of working on your project.” The Faerlamore glances at Kitten significantly.  
  
“I didn’t ask him to do that,” Yejun says, and then before Junsu could launch into a lecture, “but I’ll make sure he’s here. I promise.”  
  
“I hope so,” Junsu says. “Yoochun may not like me interfering but if this goes in a direction that I do not approve, I will take matters into my own hands, consequences be damned. Is that clear?”  
  
“I’m not some infatuated idiot,” Yejun says instead, finding himself a little irritated with Junsu’s meddling.  
  
Junsu gives him a look. “Then stop acting like it.”  
  
Yejun doesn’t think he has been. Fine, perhaps he’s been admiring Hyunwoo more than usual, and alright maybe he thinks Hyunwoo’s been super helpful lately, and yes, Yejun does want to have sex with him but it’s not like he’s plotting to steal him away from the Prince. Like Junsu said, that’s impossible.  
  
“Yejun?”  
  
The Faerlamore is gone, Kitten looking up at Yejun curiously and the Lord sighs. “Sorry, Kitten, I got distracted. Let’s go.”  
  
Hyunwoo’s waiting for them, speaking quietly to his horse, petting him. He gives Kitten’s cheek a kiss when they are close and Kitten rides with Hyunwoo as they make their way down to the Jung compound, going just fast enough so that no one will stop them. Yejun’s on a mission, after all.  
  
They’re met by Jaejoong. “Yerin?”  
  
“Staying at the castle for the night. Don’t kill her.”  
  
Jaejoong sighs as Hyunwoo takes Kitten inside. Yejun can’t help but watch them go, doesn’t realize his affection is showing on his face until he hears Jaejoong cluck his tongue.  
  
“Jung Yejun. He belongs to Seungho.”  
  
“I know that. Everyone keeps telling me that like I’ve forgotten. I haven’t.”  
  
“Just be careful. Junsu may love you but he will descend with the wrath of the gods if you fuck up.”  
  
“We know what we’re doing. Have a little faith in us, please. And stop believing everything Junsu tells you.”  
  
“I’m going to walk away before you say something dumb and your father overhears. Just be careful, Yejun. He’s been through a lot.”  
  
Yejun gives his father’s Faerlamore a cold look. “I know that better than anyone.”  
  
  
—  
  
  
Hyunwoo loves kissing. He loves most everything that he can’t do with Seungho, but whenever Hyunwoo and Yejun are together, they kiss a lot. Everything begins with kissing.  
  
Everything except tonight.  
  
Yejun blinks in surprise when he walks into his room, expecting to find Hyunwoo reading, maybe finding him undressed. Hyunwoo still in his clothing and kneeling on the floor waiting for him (like a Faerlamore, like a body slave might,) makes Yejun stop short, the only sound the door creaking as it shuts behind him. Yejun reaches back blindly in order to lock it.  
  
His first instinct is that something is wrong. Hyunwoo shouldn’t be kneeling to him like this. He’s never done this until now.  
  
“Hyunwoo?”  
  
Yejun kneels too, takes Hyunwoo’s hands in his own before realizing that Hyunwoo isn’t going to look into Yejun’s eyes, is keeping himself so incredibly submissive. _Why_ , Yejun wonders, _What is this? What are you doing?_ He reaches out to lift Hyunwoo’s chin, feels guilty, because only Seungho should be doing this. “Are you alright?”  
  
Hyunwoo takes a moment to respond, finally lifts his eyes and Yejun’s breath catches because their are tears there, pain he cannot ever hope to erase. “No,” Hyunwoo whispers, “no, I’m not. I want—I want you to—can you do something for me?”  
  
“Anything. I’d do anything for you.” _Anything to take away your pain_.  
  
“Can we—just for tonight, just for a few hours can you—can I be _your_ Faerlamore?”  
  
Suddenly, Jaejoong and Junsu’s warnings are ringing in Yejun’s ears. Had they known? They had probably guessed, if Hyunwoo hadn’t asked for their opinions outright.  
  
“Mine?” Yejun’s voice uncertainly.  
  
“I just want to know. I want to understand what it’s like to belong to someone, to be _theirs_ , fully and completely. I _need_ that. I need to know.”  
  
 _I need to know what it’s truly like to be a Faerlamore,_ Yejun translates.  
  
It’s not like he’s ever had a Faerlamore. Every situation and person is different, every arrangement coming with it’s own conditions. Yejun doesn’t really know what it is like to be a _master_. But if it’s for Hyunwoo…if it’s for Hyunwoo he’s willing to figure it out.  
  
“Just once,” Hyunwoo continues, “just one night. I won’t ever ask again.”  
  
Yejun knows that. But he wonders if he does this, if _they_ do this, will Yejun be able to stop? Will Yejun never ask for it again? The idea of Hyunwoo belonging to him—with no thoughts of Seungho, no attachment to him, always being there with him—is electrifying.  
  
He can’t say no.  
  
A submissive Hyunwoo is a strange thing. Hyunwoo _waiting_ for instructions, waiting for permission to touch Yejun, to just take off his clothes—is odd. Yet also exhilarating.  
  
Hyunwoo actually blushes when Yejun just stares at his naked body. It’s not like Yejun hasn’t seen it before but he thinks about how, for tonight, this body is his. Every inch of glorious skin, his hip bones jutting out, the ripple of muscle across his stomach: all Yejun’s. “So gorgeous,” he breathes, chasing the blush that starts at Hyunwoo’s cheeks and creeps down his throat, threatening to overtake his collarbones. He wants to ask Hyunwoo why he doesn’t like being praised. He wants to ask him if he really thinks he isn’t handsome, isn’t beautiful. _Do you think you’re not worth anything?_ Yejun wonders, as he slides his fingers into Hyunwoo’s hair and kisses him.  
  
Now is not the time to ask, Yejun knows, but maybe tonight Yejun can just show Hyunwoo, can make him feel it, for once.  
  
Normally, Hyunwoo is in control. Hyunwoo sets the pace, Hyunwoo takes charge, regardless of who is fucking whom. But Yejun is the master tonight and so he slicks his fingers with oil, presses into Hyunwoo carefully until he has his pretend Faerlamore writhing, hand around his own dick to keep himself from coming too soon, promises of punishment if he fails to wait. “To whom do you belong?” Yejun asks, over and over and over, scissoring his way into Hyunwoo’s body, over and over and over.  
  
Hyunwoo cannot answer, Hyunwoo is still not in the right frame of mind, despite having asked for this. Yejun smacks Hyunwoo’s thigh once, when Hyunwoo starts to answer “Seungho,” without thinking. Yejun is relentless for that one word, is patient as he draws it out of Hyunwoo, watches him fall apart and start to beg for release. “You,” Hyunwoo finally whispers, “you, I am yours. Your Faerlamore. Master.”  
  
The title nearly has Yejun coming on the spot. He flips Hyunwoo over and fucks into him hard and deep, lets Hyunwoo rut into the bed sheets and they both lose control, lose their focus as they chase a high.  
  
Sometimes, Hyunwoo says Seungho’s name when he comes, or not a name at all. Yejun usually ignores it, because occasionally Hyunwoo calls Yejun’s name, if he’s in a particularly good mood, if Seungho hadn’t inadvertently offended him in some way. Yejun had sort of been expecting to hear Seungho’s name on Hyunwoo’s lips, had been thinking he might have to punish Hyunwoo, because that is included in their deal for the evening, as far as he is concerned.  
  
But Hyunwoo says his name. It takes a moment for it to register, _Yejun, Yejun, Yejun_ , spilling out of Hyunwoo’s mouth, barely discernible as his face is buried in a pillow as he comes, but Yejun hears it. He hears it and it tips him over the edge, fucks into Hyunwoo through the tremors and feels his dick slide through his own mess until he’s too sensitive to do it any longer.  
  
The bed is an absolute disaster.  
  
Hyunwoo’s breathing hard. Yejun can barely move. But they find it in themselves to kiss. There’s always time to kiss.  
  
Hyunwoo is usually the one that cleans them up afterwards. But tonight Yejun gets up to do it, once he’s caught his breath, once Hyunwoo is done kissing him, at least for a few minutes.  
  
“No one can know,” he says, once they’re clean and cuddling on blankets covering the floor, skin glowing in the light from the fireplace. “No one can ever know you called me Master.”  
  
“I know.” Hyunwoo puts his head on Yejun’s chest, pushes in closer with his body and Yejun wraps his arms around him tight. “Thank you. It’s everything I wanted.”  
  
Yejun swallows. It’s everything he wanted, too. But he can’t ever admit it. Not out loud, especially not to Hyunwoo.  
  
“I love you,” Hyunwoo says, and Yejun’s sure the hitch in his breath is audible. The words make his head spin and his insides burn and he wants to take Hyunwoo all over again. But he is the master. This is about him being a master and Hyunwoo being a slave, his pretend body slave, and not about feelings. It can’t be about feelings for him, not when tonight doesn’t count. Hyunwoo doesn’t _really_ mean it, after all.  
  
“Go to sleep, pretty Faerlamore. You earned it.”  
  
—  
  
Hyunwoo wakes feeling absolutely incredible. His body is positively singing, and he decides one more morning of being Yejun’s Faerlamore couldn’t hurt and wakes his pretend master up to a mouth on his dick, sucking down his sleepy morning orgasm like he’d been doing it for years. “So good,” Yejun croons, still only half awake, “so lovely. My pretty Faerlamore. Come here.”  
  
The hand job is slightly half hearted, because Yejun is clearly not yet awake, but even then it’s incredible. Hyunwoo shakes from it, fingers digging into Yejun’s skin as he connects their mouths, his come sliding over Yejun’s fingers and onto the blankets.  
  
They lay kissing until they hear the breakfast bell.  
  
—  
  
Hyunwoo sits at Yejun’s feet during breakfast, sure everyone can smell the sex on them, even if they had hurriedly wiped themselves clean and changed into new clothes. He’s far too happy to care. It’s been years since he’s felt this spectacular.  
  
Kitten is ecstatic to see them. He’d had a minor panic attack initially, but Jaejoong had eventually won him over. He goes back and forth between sitting with Hyunwoo and sitting on Yejun during the meal, kissing their cheeks and stealing food from their chopsticks.  
  
“I have some papers for you,” Yunho tells them both, once breakfast is through. “Turns out there have been a lot of boys that have gone missing the past couple months. I started with Victoria’s son and while I’m not sure he is the first one, there have definitely been a lot since then. All the same age. A lot of people have seen some things, things hinting at an underground slave ring. I want you to take a look at it and see what you think. If we need to, we’ll organize a team.”  
  
There’s a ton of information. Both Yejun and Hyunwoo have a lot of other duties to attend to though, so Hyunwoo takes the documents up to the castle with him to look at later on in the day.  
  
Seungho is competing with Yerin at the bow and arrow when Hyunwoo gets back to the palace. Yerin is soundly beating her fiancé, having always had an affinity for marksmanship, and Seungho’s affectionate pat to Hyunwoo’s cheek is quite distracted. Hyunwoo finds the distance between them doesn’t hurt as much with the memory of Yejun’s kisses on his skin and words of praise in his ears. That had really been helpful, really been a wonderful night, and he wonders if he’ll ever be able to admit that out loud. He wonders if he’ll be able to keep his promise to never ask for it again.  
  
“I’ll be in my study,” he tells his master—his _real_ master, “and then I’m heading into the market for some investigative work.”  
  
Yerin blows him a kiss and Hyunwoo grins as Seungho splutters. Yerin is honestly so wonderful. Not as wonderful as her brother but still pretty damn great. He can’t be mad at her for stealing away Seungho’s love and that’s definitely a good thing.  
  
—  
  
His Faerlamore work is an utter drudge. Two hours feels like two hundred hours and he finally decides to escape before someone can drag him to lunch. He had briefly regained his appetite while with Yejun, but as per usual with his work, it’s now destroyed. Perhaps a little exercise will help him. Also, he really wants to talk to the witnesses Yunho had found before someone makes them conveniently forget their testimony. It’s happened before, unfortunately, and Hyunwoo doesn’t want to deal with that kind of fallout again.  
  
It’s a beautiful day when Hyunwoo ventures out of the palace and instead of taking his horse down to the docks like he normally does, decides to walk. Even if he does have copies of some of Yunho’s findings, carrying them in a sack over his shoulder is easy and he sets out after letting Seungho know where he’s going. The Prince is still with Yerin, the two of them bent over wedding plans and Hyunwoo is relieved he has no part in that. He’s not sure his heart is strong enough.  
  
He doesn’t have a definite idea of where to start asking about the boys being illegally sold, but Kitten had been at the docks so that seems a good a place as any.  
  
Some the people Yunho had talked to are expecting him.  
  
“I saw them by accident,” one merchant tells him, “went to secure a shipment of ginseng and went into the wrong room. No one saw me or I’m sure I’d be dead. The handlers did not seem like nice people.”  
  
“I was searching for a slave,” another tells him, “a cheaper one, and I was shown a roomful of boys. Disheveled and malnourished for sure. I walked out so fast I tripped.”  
  
“I saw them once when they were being moved,” a girl tells him, “it was late at night, and they were all tied together, being moved from one ship to another. I tried to report it but no one listened.”  
  
 _That_ gets Hyunwoo’s attention. “Why not?”  
  
“Well, I was a slave back then. I’ve since been released but they weren’t about to take a report about slave from a slave. I can’t blame them, really.”  
  
Hyunwoo certainly can. It also sets off a few red flags, though why he can’t quite be sure. It’s a feeling he’s learned to trust, regardless. “Come with me to the officers quarters? I’d like for you to point out the one you reported to so I can ask him why he thought he should ignore it.”  
  
But as it turns out she remembers his name. Hyunwoo is only partly surprised to find out that it’s the captain. He wishes he could look up the captain’s work history but he doesn’t have time for that. Well, he could make time. But he doesn’t want to do that, wants to continue to collect his evidence and solve this disaster once and for all. So he heads to barracks all by himself.  
  
In hindsight, he should have at least brought a sword.  
  
The captain welcomes him, initially. He listens to Hyunwoo’s story, looks at the evidence, and makes sympathetic noises throughout the explanation. Just in case, Hyunwoo is careful about what he says (like Yunho had taught him, in order to catch someone in a lie,) but it’s not until Hyunwoo brings up the girl witness that things start to go south.  
  
“I don’t remember that. You can’t possibly expect me to remember everyone that files complaints with me.”  
  
“No,” Hyunwoo admits, “but that’s not what I’m asking. Why would you not look into her claims?”  
  
“People move merchandise between ships all the time, Faerlamore.”  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
“I said merchandise is constantly being loaded and unloaded at all times, day or night. She could have easily mistaken any number of workers for boy slaves. No good captain would bother with such a trivial report. There are real crimes going on in this market.”  
  
Hyunwoo gives the captain a hard look. “I never said anything about ships. Or _boy_ slaves.” God bless Jung Yunho and his lectures on investigative work. Hyunwoo’s never going to make fun of him again.  
  
“Yes, you did.”  
  
“No, I said a girl saw illegal activity with slave trading. Nothing about ships or the slaves being boys. Tell me, captain, how did you know such detail?”  
  
He’s making a lot of bad decisions today, Hyunwoo realizes. He’s here alone, without a weapon, and is now accusing the captain of slave trading. Or at least of knowing about it and keeping silent. He _should_ have walked away.  
  
Instead he stays. He realizes a minute later, when a sword is drawn on him, and soldiers burst inside, one with a bow and arrow, that he’s an actual idiot. Dammit.  
  
“Captain,” Hyunwoo says, raising his hands in the air, “you don’t want to do this. I’m a _Prince_.”  
  
The captain laughs. “We’re everywhere, Faerlamore, and there’s nothing you can do to stop the end of the royal family and the beginning of another age.”  
  
And _that’s_ new information. Hyunwoo hopes he can remember it, if he makes it out of this mess alive. He’s good with a sword, he’s trained with Seungho from a young age and while not as good as the Prince, can certainly hold his own. But this—this is different. This is six to one, with the six having lived most of their lives around weapons and fighting, whilst Hyunwoo is unprepared. And very unlucky. Hyunwoo, with an arrow trained at his heart.  
  
The first punch lands square on his cheek and he drops, curls up onto the floor as the blows start to rain down on him. He doesn’t know if he’s screaming or not, doesn’t know if he’s even breathing, but when it stops he can barely move. He’s lifted by his hair, the pain hardly anything in comparison to the rest of his body.  
  
“You should have just let it go,” the captain says. His face is blurry now, Hyunwoo’s vision wavering in and out. “You should have kept your nose out of it. But no, you had to rescue a boy, you had to want to _save him_. Now you’re all going to suffer for it.”  
  
Pain erupts on his arm. Something had sliced through his flesh—a knife? A sword? It doesn’t matter. He has to get out of here, has to get to safety, has to expose the captain’s crimes. He tries to memorize (to even just see) the faces of the other soldiers but he can’t. Nothing is working the way he wants.  
  
The captain is talking but Hyunwoo has stopped listening.  
  
If there’s one thing about him that everyone always tells him it’s that he’s resilient. He’s gone through fierce training as a Faerlamore, _survived_ it, and part of that training had been to mentally shut down the parts of his body he doesn’t need. It had been so that, should something happen to the prince, the Faerlamore could ignore his own needs and see to his master. That isn’t the situation now but the principals remain the same, Hyunwoo thinks, and starts to breathe deep, center his mind and focus.  
  
Still, the pain is incredible and while he can block some of it out, convince his mind it’s not really there, it doesn’t completely go away. But it’s enough. Enough for his head to clear and a plan to form.  
  
The captain is still babbling when Hyunwoo brings his leg up in between the monster’s to smash against his balls. It’s incredibly satisfying.  
  
In the confusion that follows, Hyunwoo runs.  
  
Well, it starts as a limp, and he’s slow, but then there’s the sound of his pursuers behind him and he goes faster. He should have taken a horse down. He _needs_ a horse. But he doesn’t have time to find one, doesn’t have time to stop and think about the nearest stable.  
  
Hyunwoo’s legs are aflame with pain. From the tips of his toes to his knees, it feels like knives are digging into this flesh, like coals are pressed against the soles of his feet. He can barely breathe, his ribs most likely cracked. He can taste the blood in his mouth, can barely see because his eyes are so swollen, but it doesn’t matter. He knows the way and takes it; he must get home. He cannot die here. He will not allow it.  
  
He stumbles forward, pain lacing across his shoulder and he screams. He doesn’t know if it’s an arrow, doesn’t know if it is the tip of a sword but he pushes past it. He runs. All he can do is run.  
  
But he knows he isn’t going to make it to the palace, he isn’t even going to make it to the Jung mansion. He wouldn’t survive; he can feel his blood pumping out of his body at an alarming rate. He needs to go somewhere safe.  
  
The answer comes to him, suddenly, and he takes an abrupt right turn around a corner, dashing through the small side street towards a familiar house. When he gets to the gate and it’s open he knows he’s made the right choice, runs straight inside knowing the captain will not follow him there, wouldn’t even _dare_.  
  
Boa’s brother Minho, a lord in his own right and merchant, is holding the reigns of a horse, Yunho’s former servant Jinki sitting atop it and they both yell in alarm when they see him. He tries to talk, tries to point, but his arms have stopped working, his mouth dry enough for it to have stuck together.  
  
Then Hyunwoo’s mental battle comes to an end, the pain overwhelming, fatigue hitting him and he collapses. This might be it, he thinks, even as he watching a blurred Jinki riding hard out of the gate, Minho yelling for servants and a doctor, this might be where Shim Hyunwoo dies.  
  
Strangely enough, it’s not Seungho that Hyunwoo wishes were here with him here, at the end.  
  
As Hyunwoo’s eyes flutter shut, his heart aching, his body dying, it’s _Yejun_ that he wants.  
  
Yejun, Yejun, Yejun.


	3. Chapter 3

Lavender.  
  
Hyunwoo wakes slow, smelling lavender and he doesn’t have to open his eyes to know where he is: Yejun’s bed. The emotions are overwhelming, and Hyunwoo cannot actually believe that he’s alive. He _survived_.  
  
Seeing is an effort, but when he’s finally able to crack his eyes open, he finds his father staring down at him anxiously. The tears come unbidden. “Appa,” he breathes, throat closing with emotion and he struggles to breathe as his father leans down to press their foreheads together, kiss his son’s cheek. “My brave boy. My stupidly brave little boy.”  
  
Talking is impossible.  
  
“Don’t move,” his father orders, “your skin is sliced on one forearm, you broke the other arm, and a few ribs and a few bones in your foot. I want to stay here with you but we were told to get the doctor the second you woke. I’ll be right back.”  
  
Hyunwoo doesn’t want him to go, doesn’t want to be alone, but as soon as his father leaves, the weight on the other side of the bed stirs and Hyunwoo can move his head just enough to see Yejun. It’s clear he’d been kneeling on the floor, head on the bed for a long while, his appearance more disheveled than Hyunwoo’s ever seen.  
  
“You little devil. You scared the living crap out of me. If you ever do something so stupid again I will kill you myself. Do you hear me? You dumb asshole, I can’t believe you.”  
  
He’s crying, tears streaking his cheeks and before Hyunwoo can register it properly, they’re kissing. “Idiotic Faerlamore. Stupid Prince. You can’t do this to me. Not after—not ever.” Each phrase is punctuated with a kiss, the final one lasting long enough for Hyunwoo to want to lose himself in it, would have, if not for the clearing of a throat from the doorway.  
  
It’s Seungho. “Should I leave?” He asks. He’s amused, Hyunwoo knows, not angry. He might have been angry, had he known what Hyunwoo and Yejun had played at last night. But he doesn’t and he won’t ever, at least not from Hyunwoo’s mouth.  
  
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Yejun says, and wipes his nose on his sleeve. His hands are shaking and Hyunwoo wishes he had enough strength to take them in his own, hold them tight.  
  
“Darling Faerlamore,” Seungho says, and Hyunwoo attempts to smile as his cheek is cupped. “I’m so happy you’re alright.”  
  
 _Me too_ , Hyunwoo wants to say, but finds his throat is still clogged and tears are spilling over his cheeks again. Seungho wipes them away.  
  
“Can you give me a name? A description? I am itching for justice.”  
  
“Gone,” Hyunwoo rasps.  
  
They might have been the dumbest idiots ever to hurt him, but Hyunwoo’s attacker became a captain for a reason. He would know better than to stick around after learning Hyunwoo had survived. Besides, he knows Seungho. It wouldn’t be justice so much as it would be revenge. Hyunwoo doesn’t want that.  
  
“Actually, I’m sure they aren’t gone.”  
  
Changmin’s back with the doctor, although the person that is speaking is the King. Hyunwoo doesn’t even bother trying to incline his head, sure he won’t be able to and instead smiles as bravely as he can. The king has only ever been kind to him and Hyunwoo has never once feared him. It’s Junsu that makes him cower, honestly.  
  
Yoochun brushes away the bangs on Hyunwoo’s forehead. “You gave us quite a scare.”  
  
“That is putting it lightly,” Seungho frowns.  
  
“Some of us were petrified,” Yoochun admits, “I’m glad you survived. We brought you here because the doctor didn’t think you’d live if we tried to get you to the palace.”  
  
“This is good,” Hyunwoo slurs. It doesn’t sound like that but Yejun squeezes his hand tight and Hyunwoo knows his meaning is clear.  
  
“Now give me a name,” Seungho hisses.  
  
Hyunwoo doesn’t want to, not really. But he reminds himself Seungho is his master. Seungho doesn’t ask much of him, really, doesn’t give him orders, exactly. So when they happen Hyunwoo always obeys. Hyunwoo leaps at the chance to please his master in the only ways that he can. “The captain. In the market.”  
  
Yoochun gapes. Seungho blinks. “Kim? Captain _Kim_? I just talked to him.” His eyes narrow. “I _just_ talked to him that—”  
  
And then Seungho is gone, swearing under his breath, Yoochun hurrying after him. “Seungho don’t do anything rash, don’t—“ his voice fades and Yejun sighs.  
  
“We had a feeling the people that did this would try to escape if they knew you survived,” Changmin tells him, “so we announced you were unconscious and on the brink of death. We even started to order clothes for mourning in hopes the perpetrator would feel safe enough to stay. I’m glad to see that it worked. Yunho’s a genius.”  
  
“How long—“ Hyunwoo starts, and then his throat closes up and he coughs. _How long have I been here? How long have I been like this_?  
  
His father understands. “Two days.”  
  
“Stop trying to talk,” Yejun growls. He reaches out with a finger as if to poke Hyunwoo’s cheek but then seems to think better of it. “Just rest. Please just rest.” He lifts a cup of water to Hyunwoo’s lips and watches as a Hyunwoo takes a few sips.  
  
“You better go after Seungho,” Changmin says to Yejun, “you’ll need a plan before you get the captain and he’s liable to just rush off to do it right now.”  
  
Yejun gives Hyunwoo a final kiss, apparently uncaring that it’s in front of Hyunwoo’s father, and then he’s gone as well.  
  
Changmin’s eyebrow is raised. Hyunwoo’s been getting that a lot. Don’t get attached to Seungho. Don’t get attached to Yejun. Hyunwoo’s a little sick of it, to be honest. He wants to be attached to _someone_.  
  
But if his father wants to say anything, he clearly doesn’t want to do it in front of the doctor. Hyunwoo waits patiently as the doctor checks him all over, clearly relieved that his patient has awoken and promises to bring some broth. Hyunwoo isn’t hungry, but he’ll do anything to feel a little more energetic, more _alive_.  
  
His eyelids are weighing him down, though, and he falls asleep holding this father’s hand and listening to him sing.  
  
  
—  
  
  
It takes awhile, but Yejun finally finds Seungho in Hyunwoo’s study, staring despairingly at all the papers strewn everywhere. He had expected to find him in the stables ready to ride out, but that idea had apparently been nixed. “Seungho?”  
  
The Prince frowns. “Are you done kissing him?”  
  
Now Yejun frowns. “Are you upset about that? I thought you were okay with us. Kissing and stuff.”  
  
“I am. Sorry. I just. I do care about his heart, even though I’ve given him enough pain to last a lifetime. I hate to admit it, but I shouldn’t have been kissing him. I thought it would help, you know? I thought he wouldn’t mind. But it just made everything worse. So I’m glad he has you. I’m glad he has—a friend. I’m glad you have sex.”  
  
 _What happened to finding the captain_? Yejun wants to ask. But he assumes Yoochun had persuaded his son to wait until they could gather an appropriate force, until they could figure out exactly how many assholes they were dealing with here.  
  
So worrying about Hyunwoo it is.  
  
Yejun feels a little guilty, considering what he had done with Hyunwoo last night.  
  
“He seems happy though. Do you think he’s happy like this, Yejun?”  
  
Well, maybe more than a little guilty. It’s overwhelming. “Sit down.”  
  
“That’s a no, then.” Seungho looks positively miserable. “What do I do?”  
  
Yejun sits across from Seungho, hands folded, wondering how much he should say. “Seungho—look. Last night. I walked into my room and he was kneeling. Like a slave.”  
  
Seungho’s eyebrows disappear into his hairline. “What?”  
  
“He wanted—he.” Yejun has to take a deep breath. Maybe he should skip some parts. “He called me Master.”  
  
“ _What_?”  
  
“Under…duress. Not. I mean. This is coming out all wrong.”  
  
“You cannot be his master.”  
  
“I know that. He knows that. That’s not what it was.”  
  
“Then what was it, Yejun?”  
  
“Sex,” Yejun blurts. “It was. Sex. He wanted—he wanted to know what it was like. What it would have been like to be a Faerlamore, to not be in charge, to—everything. Everything you cannot give him. He asked me for it, just once. I couldn’t. I’m sorry. I couldn’t say no.”  
  
He breathes lightly, almost holding it in anticipation of Seungho’s reaction. The prince looks conflicted at best, unclear as to whether he ought to be angry or not. Yejun hopes this doesn’t cost him his head.  
  
“I don’t have a right to be jealous,” Seungho finally whispers.  
  
 _Damn right you don’t_ , Yejun thinks, but he bites his tongue, waits.  
  
“I want to be. But I can’t. He’s grown up seeing Junsu and my father, Taeyeon and my mother. Even your father and Jaejoong. I can’t blame him for wondering, wanting. He’s had the images, the ideas, drilled into his head for as long as he can remember. Of course he wants to experience it.” Seungho laughs, something short and terrible, “Every time I think I’ve stopped hurting him something else happens. Someone points out _one more thing_ I’ve done to completely crush his heart.”  
  
“Seungho, this is not just you.”  
  
“It is, though. If I had bothered to talk to him maybe this wouldn’t have happened. I’m such an idiot.”  
  
“It’s not,” Yejun insists. “You might be oblivious sometimes, but you’ve made it perfectly clear where you stand. You’ve drawn a line. It’s Hyunwoo that keeps hoping one of you will cross it. _Hyunwoo_ is the one that keep hoping you’ll change your mind about men.”  
  
Seungho does not look convinced. “Still.”  
  
This is not how Yejun expected this to go—not that he’s upset about Seungho being okay with it.  
  
“It’s not—it isn’t going to happen again.”  
  
Seungho gives him a look. “Uh-huh. You know I _noticed_ how happy he was when he came back. Yerin noticed. I felt _incredible_ after seeing him so carefree. If that’s what happened I might just order you to do it again.”  
  
Yejun blushes.  
  
“See? You liked it.”  
  
“I never said I didn’t,” Yejun mumbles, “we both liked it. A lot. That’s not the point.”  
  
“I know. The point is you were feeling guilty because you made him call you master…lord knows how. You must really be as good in bed as everyone says.”  
  
“ _Seungho_!”  
  
This time, the prince’s laugh is genuine and he reaches over to clap Yejun on the shoulder. “It’s fine. I’m glad you told me. I was angry for a minute but now I’m not. Maybe—maybe when he’s better the three of us should talk. Figure something out so no one’s lying and no one feels guilty. And so Hyunwoo is happy. That is why you told me, yes? That’s what this is all about? Making sure that Hyunwoo is permanently happy.”  
  
It’s not that simple. It’s not just about Yejun having Hyunwoo whenever he wants and who calls who master. It isn’t just about sex. “Partly, yes.”  
  
“You’re going to crush my good mood again aren’t you?”  
  
Yejun sighs. “The other night at dinner I complimented him. He was so gorgeous. Just sitting there. I was staring and I kept telling him how handsome he was.”  
  
“He didn’t like that?” Seungho guesses, sounding resigned.  
  
“He said—he said he didn’t _deserve_ it.”  
  
Silence, Seungho’s mouth dropping open, and then, “Crushed,” the prince sighs, “one thing after another.”  
  
“I just worried. I really worried. I don’t know how to deal with that or how to counteract it.”  
  
“Neither do I. But let’s worry about one thing at a time. First, healing Hyunwoo’s body. Then healing his soul. Agreed?”  
  
Yejun tries very hard not to cry. Seungho is pretty damn spectacular. “Agreed.”  
  
  
—  
  
  
They send someone with actual reconnaissance experience down to the docks. He’s a spy for the King, usually in other countries but currently back because he wife is about to give birth. Still, he’s happy to scope the area and situation out for them.  
  
Unfortunately, he doesn’t come back with much.  
  
“The witnesses you wrote down don’t remember seeing him. They even said they don’t remember talking to you,” the spy nods at Yunho. “I’m sure that’s not a coincidence. The captain is at the barracks, though. Along with several of his men. They’re in the middle of some sort of promotion ceremony so they won’t be going anywhere for a few hours.”  
  
“Promotions?” Seungho frowns, “I don’t recall any promotions being approved.”  
  
“Enough reason for us to mosey on down even without the accusations already standing against them,” Yoochun says. “Although I’m not sure it will look good if I go with you. I’ll stay at the palace for now. The three of you plus your guards should be enough.”  
  
“Agreed,” Yunho nods. “Also, Jinki is going to meet us there, because he saw some of the guards fleeing as he road to get us. That’s at least one eye witness that won’t change their testimony.”  
  
“The others will remember once we remind them that the things I can do to them as King are infinitely more terrible than some random captain of the market guard.”  
  
Not that any of them really condone torture or violence, but Hyunwoo is technically a _Prince_ that had been hurt. Yejun’s not sure why people seem to forget that so easily.  
  
They don’t want to inform the guard of their approach, so they all enter the market at different times from different places. Yejun and his father do their normal rounds of the vendors and merchants, Seungho and a few guards going down under the pretense of securing goods for the wedding ceremony. The rest of guards filter in on their own.  
  
When the third noon bell sounds they all end up outside the barracks, Jinki waiting for them with Siwon. Yejun’s very happy to see his sword master there. Yejun is good in a fight, but Siwon is better and his presence makes Yejun feel much more secure about this whole thing. If they had managed to take Hyunwoo by surprise, the guards would have had to be very good.  
  
Seungho takes the lead, Yunho behind him and Yejun just lets them bust the door open. Honestly, the prince is absolutely frightening when he wants to be. Yoochun had taught him well (or perhaps it had been Junsu, Yejun still isn’t quite sure.)  
  
To his credit, Seungho tries talking. But that lasts about a minute and then the fighting starts, Yejun reluctantly drawing his sword.  
  
The captain’s guards _are_ good. Yejun is getting several days worth of exercise at the very least. He parries, slashes, dives and ducks. At one point he’s back to back with Seungho as Yunho battles on top of a table with the captain. Jinki is by the door shooting arrow after arrow and Yejun belated remembers he was the one that had made Yerin so good with a bow.  
  
Ten minutes later it’s over. Siwon is tying them up, Jinki hauling the dead out the door to be buried later. Yejun finds himself having to hold Seungho back, the tip of his sword at the captain’s throat and dangerously close to dispatching him on the spot.  
  
“Seungho,” Yejun warns.  
  
His father is watching them, though not too closely, as he sorts through the books and papers on the desk. They’ll have to go over this entire place with excruciating detail.  
  
“You _hurt_ my Faerlamore. A _prince_. Let me go, Yejun, I’m going to cut off his head. Right now.”  
  
“You can’t do that. Seungho, this needs to be done correctly. We still don’t know much of anything. We need to get them to talk.”  
  
By the way the captain is glaring that isn’t going to be an easy task. But that’s for the King to sort out, not them.  
  
“I—he _hurt_ —“  
  
“I know. I know, Seungho.”  
  
Seungho puts down the sword. But he does punch the captain across his face. Yejun tries not to find it satisfying when the captain spits out blood and a tooth. If his father hadn’t been watching Yejun probably would have punched the asshole too.  
  
Yejun stays at the barracks while the prisoners are all brought up to the castle. He would much rather do detective work than anything else.  
  
“You fought really well,” his father says.  
  
“Only because everyone else kept the really good fighters away from me.”  
  
“I mean it. You did a really good job, Yejun. I’m proud of you.”  
  
He doesn’t just mean with the fighting, Yejun realizes. His father means with Kitten, with Seungho and Hyunwoo. With everything. Yejun takes a moment to bask in it, making sure his father can see the small smile he allows himself. Being prideful now and again is good, Yejun thinks. He _did_ work hard.  
  
Several Jung employees come down to the barracks to help them search and the King sends a few of his own personal investigators. They spend all day sorting through documents and searching through drawers and nooks and crannies but it isn’t until Yunho finally locates a hidden passageway into a basement that they finally make headway.  
  
They don’t find any boys but they do find weapons. Chests and chests full of swords and arrows and one chock full of guns. Just the sight of them makes Yejun feel sick.  
  
“This is bigger than just selling boys into slavery and mistreating them,” he says.  
  
“I think so,” Yunho nods. “But what is it?”  
  
They don’t find anything with an answer. But they do find a ledger full of names. It’s in code, but one of the King’s men breaks it within ten minutes; Yejun’s really glad he’s on their side.  
  
“Names, ranks, places. What is this?”  
  
“All the people that purchased boys, I think,” Yunho says. He has a glint in his eye that means someone is in trouble. The look _still_ makes Yejun swallow nervously. “It’s a good place to start. I’ll take it to the King.” He doesn’t let Yejun look at it further. “You should go check on Kitten.”  
  
“He survived a whole night without me.”  
  
“Most of that night he slept. All day without you might be pushing it. Go and check on him.”  
  
A dismissal, if Yejun ever heard one.  
  
So he leaves, waving away a guard offering to saddle a horse of him and does it himself. There’s still a crowd of commoners outside the barracks trying to figure out what had happened but they part easily enough to make room for Yejun to leave.  
  
Kitten’s waiting for him. Yejun feels a little guilty, seeing him pace back and forth, Yerin trying desperately to keep him from running off. When he finally catches sight of Yejun, Kitten starts to cry, his words backwards and mixed up, making no sense at all. Yejun is barely able to hand the reigns of his horse off to a stable boy before Kitten barrels into him.  
  
“Gone!” It’s a _wail_.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Yejun says, petting Kitten’s hair, “I had to capture some really bad men. I’m sorry I left you.”  
  
“Alone,” Kitten sniffs.  
  
“Yerin was here with you, right? You weren’t here by yourself.”  
  
Kitten mumbles something, a long jumble of words Yejun can’t understand and so instead, squats down so he can give his protege a piggyback ride back into the manor. It seems to placate him. Kitten’s smiling by the time they get to Yejun’s room, where Hyunwoo is awake and being fed careful sips of broth by Junsu.  
  
The swelling has all but disappeared on Hyunwoo’s body, whatever herbs the doctor is using working their magic perfectly. Bruising remains, but Hyunwoo looks more like Hyunwoo now, and Yejun’s incredibly grateful.  
  
Yejun takes great care to not swoop down and kiss Hyunwoo until the color comes back into his cheeks; one lecture from Junsu is enough. The kissing can wait until later.  
  
“I heard you caught them.”  
  
“I wish you could have seen it.”  
  
“He’ll see enough at the trial,” Junsu interrupts. “Can I leave this with you? He needs to eat the entire bowl.” He gestures with the spoon and as Kitten lies down next to Hyunwoo, Yejun takes the broth.  
  
“He will.”  
  
“Have more important things to do than feed me?”  
  
“Not more important, but I think I’ll need to reign Yoochun and Seungho in a little.”  
  
Hyunwoo nods. “Good idea. Thanks for the company.”  
  
Junsu cups the Faerlamore’s cheek a moment, affection leaking through his normally professional exterior when dealing with someone other than Yoochun or Jaejoong, and then he’s gone.  
  
“Are you really going to make me eat the rest of that?”  
  
“Your mentor scares the crap out of me,” Yejun says, flatly. “You’re eating all of this.”  
  
When he was younger, Junsu and Jaejoong’s lectures and punishments had been interchangeable, and even without being in the same place, they seemed to be able to communicate. He could make a fuss or be disobedient when visiting the palace and by the time he’d get back down to the mansion, Jaejoong had already heard about it and passed it along to Yejun’s father or mother. As a young child, it was positively frightening and he’d been sure Jaejoong and Junsu could read minds. Now he knows better, but that respect (and fear) remains, to a certain extent, at least enough for him to still obey them both without question.  
  
He tells Hyunwoo his version of the fight while he sips on the broth. Kitten, apparently now happy Yejun is back, promptly falls asleep, and as soon as he’s sure the boy is out cold, Yejun leans in for a kiss. Hyunwoo is happy to oblige.  
  
“It’s so nice having all these people out for justice in my name.”  
  
“Like anyone in the world would be able to sit still after someone so wonderful is hurt.”  
  
“I don’t know about that,” Hyunwoo huffs, but he lets Yejun kiss him again before sucking down the last few drops of soup. “I’m exhausted,” he admits, “but I don’t want you to go.”  
  
“You’re as bad as Kitten. Sleep, pretty Faerlamore. I’m not going anywhere.”  
  
It is his room, after all.  
  
  
—  
  
  
Hyunwoo wakes up to renewed pain.  
  
He cracks his eyes open to see Seungho and Yejun talking between themselves at the foot of his bed and definitely not the source of the burning. That’s on his arm and he glances to the side to see Kitten, picking at the fraying edge of a bandage and trying to unwind it. His wound has started to bleed again.  
  
“Kitten,” Hyunwoo rasps, “stop.”  
  
Yejun’s there in a second, pulling Kitten’s hands away from Hyunwoo’s arm. “Kitten, no!”  
  
It’s a disaster after that, Kitten sobbing in fear at Yejun’s outburst, but still clinging to him tightly. He’s loud enough to draw Jaejoong’s attention and the Faerlamore ushers a panicking Kitten out, Yejun following apprehensively.  
  
“That’s going to be difficult,” Seungho sighs.  
  
“What is?”  
  
“Finding a way to discipline Kitten without traumatizing him.”  
  
Hyunwoo’s prince has already taken off the destroyed bandage and is cleaning the wound. Hyunwoo only winces once, when Seungho carefully applies more salve to the healing gash, and then it’s being re-wrapped. Seungho’s never been more gentle with him and Hyunwoo readies himself for the butterflies in his stomach but they don’t come: just calmness, settling into his bones like years of friendship finally finding the right road to travel.  
  
“Yejun told me,” Seungho says, abruptly.  
  
“Told you what?”  
  
“About—that you called him…master.”  
  
Hyunwoo’s heart skips a beat in shock, he thinks _traitor, you guilt-ridden dumbass_ , and then he panics when Seungho stays silent and does not elaborate on their talk. It takes a few tries before Hyunwoo can get his mouth to work “Seungho—“  
  
“I’m not mad. I mean I was for like five minutes. But then I realized I really can’t be. I can’t be jealous over someone giving you something I will not.”  
  
“That’s not—it was just once. It won’t happen again, I promise, so you don’t have to—“  
  
“Yejun said that too,” Seungho sighs, sounding amused, “but I know both of you better than that. You were—you were so happy when you came back. You looked rested. You looked healthy. How could I possibly order you not to do something that pleases you so immensely? How can I refuse you happiness when I’m greedily taking it for myself?”  
  
“ _Seungho_.”  
  
“I’m trying to be generous, Hyunwoo. Please let me. I don’t care what you do with Yejun in bed. If you want to call him master I am fine with that. If you want him to _be_ your master in bed, I’m fine with that, with whatever the two of you decide what that means. Honest.”  
  
The panic isn’t gone. He knows what Seungho means, understands that they’re just talking about sex, but his body is still freaking out, his mind trying to grasp at straws to keep himself afloat. His training kicks in and he has to say: “I belong to you. I am you.”  
  
“We belong to one another. I will always be your master, Hyunwoo” Seungho says, “I’d be utter shit without you by my side. We’ve experienced this. But that doesn’t mean I don’t mind _sharing_ you.” He looks for a moment like he usually does when he’s about to lean in and kiss Hyunwoo, reassure him. But he doesn’t. “We don’t need to figure this all out now. I just wanted you to know—just _know_ , that I’m not mad. You don’t have to feel guilty. You don’t have to feel anything but happiness. Alright?”  
  
Hyunwoo barely holds back the tears. “I love you.”  
  
“I know you do.”  
  
He still isn’t kissed. Hyunwoo wonders if maybe the prince has finally realized that even if Hyunwoo loves them, royal kisses hurt. They hurt more than anything in the world.  
  
“Should I leave?”  
  
Yejun’s standing in the doorway, grinning a little and Hyunwoo rolls his eyes as Seungho steps away. “Don’t be ridiculous.”  
  
Kitten’s with the lord, and he abandons Yejun’s side to catapult himself across the room and blubber out an apology—at least, that’s what Hyunwoo assumes it is. He can’t quite make sense of the words. “It’s okay,” Hyunwoo says, “look, Seungho fixed it just fine. Now you know not to touch, right? Good boy. Sweet boy, I know you were just curious. It’s okay.”  
  
Yejun makes a face at him from behind Kitten’s back as a smile blossoms across Hyunwoo’s face and the Faerlamore preens.  
  
Maybe this attention is good after all.  
  
—  
  
Jaejoong’s petrified. He’s scared to move, even here, tangled in the sheets with his body pressed against Yunho’s. “Why Hyunwoo? Why is it always Hyunwoo? Why couldn’t have it been me?”  
  
“Kim Jaejoong,” Yunho scolds.  
  
“I can’t see him hurt anymore. I can’t.”  
  
Fingers dance along his side a moment, before an arm wraps around him. “He’ll be okay. You can’t protect him forever, darling Faerlamore of mine. He has other people for that. He has _Yejun_ for that, dare I say it.”  
  
“His heart is going to shatter. Again.”  
  
Yunho kisses Jaejoong’s temple. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”  
  
—  
  
  
The trial is held almost immediately.  
  
Changmin wheels in one of the queen’s wheel chairs that he had made and it takes awhile to get Hyunwoo situated in it comfortably. They take a carriage up to the palace and then wheel Hyunwoo into the interrogation grounds. He’s not sure he’ll be able to sit like this for long, but he knows he has to be there for a little bit of it, if only to stare at his attackers and make them feel like the pieces of shit that they are (Yejun’s words, not Hyunwoo’s).  
  
He’s mostly sure it works. None of them even look up at him, their bodies tied tight with red rope, stark against the white of their imprisonment garments, blood spattered across their bodies from whatever interrogation they had been subject to undergoing.  
  
According to Seungho, they had confessed to being part of a conspiracy to dethrone the royal family and get rid of the monarchy once and for all. It hadn’t taken much to get that out of them but only because they said they weren’t the only ones. It wasn’t going to end with their capture.  
  
“No,” the King had said, “but perhaps your execution will slow them down.”  
  
Punishment for harming the Crown Prince—of whom Hyunwoo is an extension—is death. Hyunwoo isn’t sure he’s fine with people being killed but he doesn’t get a say. Seungho is positively livid and will not be swayed, his father backing him up one hundred percent.  
  
“There’s always someone that forgets,” the King says, “always someone that thinks a Faerlamore is less of a person. This punishment will continue until this country learns otherwise.”  
  
Until, Hyunwoo knows, they can find a way to end slavery once and for all. It’s always been the plan, but he’s all too aware it will be years, perhaps long past their time, before it’s realized.  
  
He tunes most of the jargon out. He doesn’t want to stay for the executions, and even if he had, he’s starting to really feel the pain in his body again. He isn’t going to make it much longer.  
  
Yejun is standing beside him and Hyunwoo uses his non-broken arm to reach up and grasp his hand. “I need to leave,” he whispers, when Yejun looks down at him, “I can’t—I have to lay back down.”  
  
They wait for a break in the talking and then Yejun gets Seungho’s attention when he glances in their direction. He gives them a smile, a nod (permission to leave), and Yejun wheels the Faerlamore away, Changmin following them, his hand in Kitten’s. They had apparently gotten close while waiting for Hyunwoo to wake, Changmin reading books to Kitten and getting him interested in words and letters.  
  
Yejun and Changmin lift Hyunwoo into his bed. He has to admit it is nice to be in his own room, though he will miss the smell of lavender on the sheets. Maybe he should ask the servants to see if they can procure the scent for him. But then it probably wouldn’t be so special.  
  
“Are you hungry?” Yejun asks.  
  
“Just tired. I’d like to sleep away some of this pain.”  
  
“Can I stay?”  
  
“Please.”  
  
“Kitten isn’t sleepy!”  
  
Hyunwoo smiles, even as Yejun curls up next to him, careful not to press against his body too hard. “Maybe Changmin can take you to the library while we take a nap?”  
  
Kitten seems to like this idea a lot, and Changmin does as well. Hyunwoo is aware that Changmin likes to teach, likes a challenge. He certainly had when he had tutored Hyunwoo and Seungho both, albeit at different levels. Changmin is the best at getting people to fall in love with learning.  
  
“You’re so sneaky,” Hyunwoo tells him, once they’re gone.  
  
“I just know them well.”  
  
Yejun laces his fingers with those of Hyunwoo’s good hand and they lay quietly for awhile, they’re breathing slow and even. “Yejun?” Hyunwoo asks.  
  
“Mm.”  
  
“I—I know I said I didn’t want to call—that I was only going to call you master once. But. Once…once wasn’t enough.”  
  
He doesn’t dare turn his head, keeps his eyes firmly shut, hopes no one is standing outside and listening. He feels Yejun turn, press his head into Hyunwoo’s shoulder.  
  
“Once wasn’t enough for me either.”  
  
Hyunwoo falls asleep incredibly, impossibly relieved.  
  
  
—  
  
  
Hyunwoo spends the rest of the day in and out of sleep, sometimes Yejun is there, sometimes Kitten. He wakes in the middle of the night to find Seungho sleeping beside him, tear tracks drying on his face. That does set his stomach squirming because he loves when Seungho thinks of him. He loves when Seungho gives him attention.  
  
He’ll always love Seungho, Hyunwoo knows. This thing with Yejun, this arrangement, it may have healed a little piece of his soul, may have helped him compartmentalize his life, but it didn’t stop him from caring about his master. Hyunwoo doesn’t want that. Hyunwoo needs Seungho as much as Seungho needs Hyunwoo. Hyunwoo must have Seungho in his life somehow and that isn’t ever going away. Not even if someone holds a sword to his throat.  
  
Shim Hyunwoo loves Park Seungho and he always will. But he doesn’t need to pine. He doesn’t need to hurt. Maybe it had been the life threatening experience, maybe it had been the night he’d spent with Yejun, the realization that he could call someone else master and not hurt Seungho because of it. Either way, he feels a little more whole. He feels loved.  
  
It’s the first time in a long time that Hyunwoo has felt so incredibly loved. By _everyone_.  
  
The next morning, Yejun arrives armed with all of their papers on the Fia proposal and props Hyunwoo up on pillows so they can make a draft of the new title law. Half way into it, Seungho joins them, changing some of their wording, making it a bit more workable.  
  
“I’ll give it to father tonight,” he says, once they’ve finished.  
  
“Can we talk before you go?” Hyunwoo asks, grabbing onto Seungho’s wrist. He clears his throat. “About. About the master thing.”  
  
Hyunwoo’s pretty sure this is only going to be awkward if they make it, but even so, Yejun’s definitely blushing a little.  
  
“Now?” Seungho asks, a little skeptical. But he sits back down, allows Hyunwoo to weave their fingers together. “I said I wasn’t angry. And I don’t mind if it happens again. I _want_ it to happen again, if it makes you happy.”  
  
“No one can find out,” Yejun says, “we’ll just—be quiet. No one can ever overhear anything.”  
  
“I can keep quiet,” Hyunwoo says. Yejun knows that, but Hyunwoo says it for Seungho’s benefit.  
  
“I think maybe…maybe you should call me master more often in public,” Seungho says, and his grip tightens, “not because of how it would make me feel but you’ve—you’ve been spending a lot more time with Yejun and people are going to notice. Maybe once the wedding happens it won’t be as big of a deal, but I think we should be safe.”  
  
“I think that’s a good idea,” Yejun agrees. “And I mean, I like what we do. I like how we have sex. I don’t want you to _always_ call me master.”  
  
Hyunwoo doesn’t want that either. It was really nice, letting go of control. But Hyunwoo likes to wreck Yejun too, likes to break him with his fingers and his mouth in all the right places. He doesn’t want that to stop. But it was also really sexy to see Yejun in charge, ordering him around in bed. A healthy mix of the two may be exactly the sort of thing Hyunwoo needs.  
  
“Just in case you’re wondering,” Seungho says, shifting away from Yejun slightly, which means he’s probably going to talk about Yerin, “and also just for the record, your sister would have been totally cool with us sleeping together.”  
  
“With _me_?” Yejun shrieks.  
  
“NO! No, I mean. Her and me and Hyunwoo. If I had been into that. Not with you. Gods, not with you.”  
  
“ _Say that in the first place_!”  
  
“Your sister is very adventurous, you know. Just last night she—”  
  
“I don’t want to hear about it.”  
  
“Are you sure? You could compare notes with—“  
  
“If you don’t stop right now I’m going to tell Jaejoong you did dirty, dirty, things to her and then you’ll never be alone with her again until after the wedding.”  
  
Hyunwoo laughs. He feels light, happy. Usually any mention of Seungho and Yerin makes him jealous, but not today. Today it doesn’t bother him at all.  
  
“As if Jaejoong doesn’t already know. He probably gave Yerin pointers.”  
  
“ _Hyunwoo_.”  
  
Hyunwoo lifts Yejun hand and kisses it, pleased when it makes Yejun blush. “You are so much fun to tease.”  
  
  
—  
  
  
Seungho goes into the council with his father to propose the new law. Last minute they decide to bring Kitten in with them, so the council can see exactly who it is they are trying to protect. Yejun’s unbelievably nervous, but Kitten seems incredibly relaxed around the King, and Seungho being there will also help.  
  
The minutes tick by with a frustrating slowness that has even Hyunwoo on edge.  
  
But eventually, the King returns, Kitten in tow and presents Yejun with their documents, all signed and sealed by members of the council. “You have your new law,” he says, “use it well.”  
  
  
—  
  
  
They celebrate with a private feast, the two families and their Faerlamores and Kitten, sprawled around low tables, servants and slaves dismissed for the evening. Even Victoria is there and Yejun has a feeling that Changmin’s care for her had developed into something more. It’s nice to see and Hyunwoo doesn’t seem to mind at all. Though lately, everything seems to be making the Faerlamore happy and Yejun can’t say that he minds.  
  
Kitten is spoiled rotten by everyone there, though he spends most of his time in Yejun’s lap. Hyunwoo tries to get him to drink a little wine, but the boys doesn’t seem to like that at all and it becomes a game for a few minutes, everyone giving Kitten little sips of their ale or liquor to see if he likes it (he doesn’t.)  
  
Somewhere in the middle of it all, Hyunwoo leans against Yejun, his cheeks rosy from wine and Yejun would have kissed him, had they been alone. “Happy?”  
  
“Yes,” Hyunwoo says, and laughs as he watches Kitten land a sloppy kiss onto Yunho’s cheek. For once, Yejun notices, Jaejoong doesn’t look jealous.  
  
“Completely happy?”  
  
Hyunwoo pulls away to regard him a moment. Then the smile returns. “Mostly. It’s going to take some time but…I think I’m ready to try.”  
  
Yejun _has_ to lean in for a kiss now. Thankfully, everyone is too busy laughing at Kitten’s antics to notice.  
  
Hyunwoo drains the rest of his wine, settles against the wall and puts his head back on Yejun’s shoulder. “I still love Seungho. I will always love him. I’ll always be a little broken-hearted.”  
  
“I know. That’s okay.”  
  
“Love,” Hyunwoo starts, “I’ve been…thinking about love a lot. I’ve had a bit of an epiphany.”  
  
Yejun weaves their fingers together. “Tell me.”  
  
“I think it all comes from the same place. The love I have for my father, the love I have for you, the love I have for Seungho…it’s this overwhelming need to care for all of you, to please all of you, with every fibre of my being. To sacrifice everything that I am, to give you everything that I am. People have always told me that there are different kinds of love. Love for your parents. Love for your friends. Love for your lover. But I don’t think that’s true.  
  
“I think love is just love. Plain and simple, all the same. What’s different is _how_ we love, how we choose to _show_ it. Our lives and how we live them shape how we use love. The _physical_ manifestation of love. That is what changes.”  
  
Yejun’s head is spinning. “What does that mean for you?” he finally asks, because it doesn’t matter what he thinks. His opinion isn’t what’s important here.  
  
“It means…it means I can continue to love Seungho with everything that I am but _choose_ to manifest it in a different way. It means I can love you and do what…what we talked about earlier and not feel guilty. It means everything.”  
  
“Does it mean you can be happy?”  
  
For a moment, Hyunwoo is silent. Then, “Yes. Maybe not right away. But someday. I will be happy. Truly, happy.”  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Yejun catches sight of Jaejoong surreptitiously wiping his eyes. Trust the Faerlamore to be eavesdropping, even as he pretends to pay attention to someone else. He supposes it’s better this way though, because Jaejoong will pass it on and everyone will know that Hyunwoo is okay. Eventually, Hyunwoo is going to be just fine.  
  
Yejun sighs, tightens his grip on Hyunwoo’s hand.  
  
“That’s all I want. That’s all anyone’s ever wanted.”  
  
And now, they can all finally have it.  
  
  
  
  
 **Epilogue**  
  
  
Hyunwoo’s so excited he can barely breathe. He isn’t wearing anything, kneeling on the floor, the door locked so no one can accidentally walk inside and see him.  
  
His heart is pounding in anticipation, his cock half hard already, just thinking about everything that is to come. He is going to be the best Faerlamore tonight, the best submissive little darling ever. He is going to hold himself like this, presented for his _Master_ , all night if he must. He _wants_ that. Craves it, can already imagine the praise he will receive for it.  
  
It seems like he waits for hours, his muscles burning, every sense tuned to the slightest sound outside the door. When he finally hears footsteps outside, he stops breathing for a second, his whole body tensing. When he hears the key in the lock he gasps for air before releasing it slow as the door is opened. He wants to look up, wants to smile, but he keeps his gaze down. Waits for a touch. A command.  
  
The door is shut and locked. His name is spoken, soft and oh so sweet. Hyunwoo loves the sound of it, the thrill it sends down his spine and he aches to hear it again.  
  
Fingers brush against his cheek, down his throat, and finally they tug his chin up, lips falling on his own for a moment.  
  
“Gorgeous,” is the compliment.  
  
Hyunwoo lets out another breath, steadies himself, finally opens his eyes to look at the man in front of him.  
  
“ _Master_.”  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I didn’t crush everyone too much. <3 Thanks for liking this, even though it was mostly original fiction. And sorry to everyone that asked me to make Hyunwoo’s life permanently miserable. I just couldn’t do it. I got too attached.
> 
> Also, I know I got a little philosophical there. The theology major in me can’t always be tamed…I use it so infrequently.


End file.
